Shire Expansion Expected to Give Biogen Some Competition in Massachusetts

Shire Expansion Expected to Give Biogen Some Competition in Massachusetts
March 2, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BOSTON – Shire Pharmaceuticals could soon rival Biogen as the largest Massachusetts-based biotech employer with its recent acquisitions of Baxalta Incorporated and Dyax Corp. , the Boston Business Journal’s Don Seiffert speculated during an interview with New England Cable News.

Since Ireland-based Shire set up shop in Lexington, Mass. in 2014, the company has quickly expanded from approximately 1,450 employees to more than 2,600, the Journal’s Don Seiffert told NECN. When factoring in the number of employees from Shire’s two latest acquisitions, the company could soon employ as many as 4,000 people in Massachusetts, about the same number as Biogen, Seiffert said.

In January, Shire finalized an agreement to acquire Illinois-based Baxalta. In July Baxalta Incorporated, a pharmaceutical spinout of Baxter launched with hopes of fielding 20 new products by 2020. Since its spinoff, Shire Pharmaceuticals has been going back and forth with Baxalta in an attempt to acquire the company. Nine days after Baxalta launched, Shire approached the company with a stock-only deal worth almost $31 billion. In early August, Shire went public with the offer in hopes of pressuring the Baxalta board and shareholders into considering the deal. After six months, the Baxalta board agreed to the deal, which is valued at about $32 billion. The merger of Shire and Baxalta will create a pharmaceutical company with one of the largest rare disease platforms.

The pipeline will include Baxalta’s hematology drug, Adynovate, Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), PEGylated, to treat hemophilia A, and Hyqvia, a next-generation subcutaneous immunoglobulin (IG) product to treat patients with primary immunodeficiency. Shire's top drug is Vyvanse, for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHA) and for moderate-to-severe Binge Eating Disorder. Another rare disease drug in Shire’s arsenal is Cinryze for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, which is expected to generate $765 million. In October, Cinryze received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for intravenous administration in subjects with Antibody Mediated Rejection in renal transplant recipients. The Dyax deal also beings another hereditary angioedema into Shire’s pipeline. Dyax is developing DX-2930 which has shown tremendous success in treating patients, an 88 percent reduction in attacks.

Also in January, Shire completed its acquisition of Dyax, the maker of Kalbitor, a treatment for attacks of hereditary angioedema. Dyax employs about 140 people, but there has not been word on what will happen to those employees, although a company spokesperson told the Boston Business Journal the company has been “impressed by the talented employees at Dyax and look forward to officially welcoming them to Shire."

Although Shire is bringing new employees into the fold through the acquisitions, the company is also in the process of hiring a number of employees across its global facilities, including a number for its Lexington, Mass. site. Positions for its Lexington headquarters include manufacturing technicians, records management, records writing, records analysis and other management positions.

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