June 27, 2011 – Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, has been named “Company of the Year” at the European Mediscience Awards 2011. Shire is the only company to have ever won the award twice, having won it also in June 2010.
Over 300 quoted European mediscience companies are eligible for the European Mediscience Awards, provided that the majority of the business of the company, and its subsidiaries are in the healthcare, medical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology or life sciences sectors.
To win the award, the Company needed to “have gained recognition by analysts and investors and to be a well managed, soundly financed growth business with a well defined strategy to deliver its key financial, ethical and social ambitions.”
Angus Russell, Chief Executive Officer of Shire, said: “We are pleased to have again been voted Company of the Year at the Mediscience Awards. The award is a tribute to the dedication of Shire’s employees but most importantly to our patients. We have a unique culture which is based around being brave on behalf of our patients and this is at the heart of our success. Although an award winner, we are also an award giver and we’ve recently announced a new Shire initiative – the Shire Brave Awards – to recognise non-professional carers of patients around the world. Our success is as a result of dedication to our patients and their families and this is one small way of acknowledging these often unsung heroes.”
On behalf of the voting panel, Louise Minchin, BBC personality and Awards presenter, said: “Having won this very award last year, Shire has continued to be a shining light within the sector and with its focus now firmly on genetic diseases, the voting panel were unanimous in its decision to reward Shire once again.”
David Wilson, Deputy Chief Executive Investment Banking, Matrix the lead sponsors of the event, said: “Many congratulations to the winners on their fantastic achievements. They have shown a capacity to adapt in a challenging market and their response offers great hope of future growth.”
For further information please contact:
Media Jessica Mann (jmann@shire.com)
+44 1256 894 280
SHIRE PLC
Shire’s strategic goal is to become the leading specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician. Shire focuses its business on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), human genetic therapies (HGT) and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases as well as opportunities in other therapeutic areas to the extent they arise through acquisitions. Shire’s in-licensing, merger and acquisition efforts are focused on products in specialist markets with strong intellectual property protection and global rights. Shire believes that a carefully selected and balanced portfolio of products with strategically aligned and relatively small-scale sales forces will deliver strong results.
For further information on Shire, please visit the Company’s website: www.shire.com.
About the Shire BRAVE Awards
The Shire BRAVE Awards is an international program created by Shire to honour the courage and dedication of individual carers. For the Shire Brave Awards, a caregiver is defined as an individual who is providing regular, consistent care for another person(s). The caregiver cannot be a professional healthcare provider and cannot be compensated in any formal way through their efforts as a caregiver. The caregiver can be a relative, neighbour, or friend who gives their time, support, and compassion regularly, helping another person(s) who is (partly or wholly) unable to care for themselves due to health issues, injury, or other extenuating circumstance. Nominations will be accepted between June 15, 2011 and August 31, 2011 and winners will be announced in November 2011. For further information on the Shire BRAVE Awards, including official rules, legal disclosures, and privacy policy, please visit www.ShireBRAVEAwards.com.
Julie Reynolds
Assistant
Financial Dynamics
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