Shire sells off Attention Deficit Disorder drug to Noven as reiterates profit view
SPECIALITY biopharmaceutical company Shire yesterday announced the sale of its brain stimulant medicine Daytrana to Noven Pharmaceuticals, granting Noven global marketing rights for the medicine, effective from 1 October 2010. Shire also maintained its earnings outlook for the full-year 2010.
The book value of the assets to be disposed is approximately $95m (£60m) or a gross, pre-amortisation value of approximately $150m.
Shire also backed its full year 2010 outlook for non-GAAP earnings trending towards $4.00 per American Depositary Share (ADS), which was announced recently with its second quarter earnings. Analysts on average expect the company to report earnings of $3.98 per ADS for 2010.
In its second quarter report, Shire said it expects 2010 underlying earnings to grow 15 per cent from 2009.
Daytrana, developed and manufactured by Noven, was originally licensed globally to Shire in 2003 and was approved and launched in the US in 2006. Shire’s net sales of the product in 2009 were $71m.
In June, the FDA approved Daytrana for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. Daytrana was already an FDA-approved ADHD treatment for children 6 to 12 years. ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.
The disorder manifests as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development.