As Stock Rises and Baxalta Merger Closes, Shire Opens New HQ in Massachusetts with 800 Jobs
June 29, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Dublin-based Shire cut the ribbon on its new 200,000-square-foot building in Lexington, Massachusetts this week. The building, located at 95 Hayden Avenue, is planned to be the company’s global corporate headquarters and house more than 800 employees.
The company received $2.25 million in tax incentives earlier this year as part of the state’s Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program. That was tied to the creation of 150 jobs. In 2014 Shire received a similar, but smaller incentive that resulted in 25 jobs.
“Shire cannot grow in an area like this if we don’t have partnerships,” said Flemming Ornskov, Shire’s chief executive officer to the Lexington Minuteman.
“I think it is the mission of Shire that makes it unusual,” said U.S. Representative Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) to the crowd at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Their mission in helping families facing very tough diagnoses is really what makes this a different partnership.”
At the event, Ornskov presented a check for $25,000 to the Community Therapeutic Day School, a local program for students with severe mental and physical disabilities.
“A lot of companies talk a good game about helping out in communities, but I’ve watched their science, technology, engineering and math programs, and how they’ve introduced children in the commonwealth into careers in these fields,” said Representative Clark to the Lexington Minuteman. “I think that makes a difference.”
The bigger news for Shire has been the completion of its acquisition of Bannockburn, Illinois-based Baxalta . This deal started in July 2015, when Shire approached Baxalta about the deal. Baxalta had just spun off from Baxter International on July 1, 2015. Baxalta declined the offer. In early August, Shire went public with the offer in hopes of pressuring the Baxalta board and shareholders into considering the deal, which eventually they did.
On June 3, 2016, the deal closed. The combined companies employ over 22,000 people in more than 100 countries. Shire has projected double-digit compound annual top-line growth, expecting to surpass $20 billion in revenue by 2020. The merged companies have more than 50 programs in clinical development across all stages.
“Upon the completion of our combination with Baxalta, Shire is now the global leader in rare diseases, with the number one rare diseases platform based on both revenue and pipeline programs,” said Ornskov in a statement at the time. “With our multiple high-value franchises, each with best-in-class products and a robust innovative portfolio, we further extend our capabilities for innovation and sustainable growth with patients at the center of everything we do.”
Shire also jumped in premarket trading today, currently at $171 per share, after positive news for the company’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug meeting its primary endpoints for efficacy and safety.
Shires markets Vynase and Intuniv for ADHD. The new drug, SHP465, showed better results than a placebo in the trial. Shire indicates it’s on schedule for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second half of 2017, and if approved, would protect the company’s ADHD franchise up to 2029.