Following a Good Start to the Year Shire Reaffirms Full Year 2008 Financia...( BASINGSTOKE England and PHILADELP...)

BASINGSTOKE, England and PHILADELPHIA, April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY) the global specialty biopharmaceutical company announces results for the three months to March 31, 2008.

Q1 2008 Financial Highlights

- Product sales up 37% to $632m

- New product sales(1) $216m, 34% of product sales (2007: 13%)

- Total revenues up 33% to $702m

- US GAAP Operating income up 15% to $163m

- Non GAAP Operating income up 23% to $192m

- US GAAP Earnings per ADS up 7% to $0.68 -

- Non GAAP Earnings per ADS up 5% to $0.74

(1) New product sales include DAYTRANA, DYNEPO, ELAPRASE, FOSRENOL, LIALDA/MEZAVANT and VYVANSE

Matthew Emmens, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"It's been a good start to the year with sales growth from new and established products achieving our expectations. Total revenues for the first quarter were up 33% on the same period last year with new product launches significantly contributing to this growth.

The VYVANSE launch continues to progress well; by April 11, the product had achieved a 6.9% share of the US ADHD market. On April 23, Shire announced that the FDA had approved the adult indication for VYVANSE, making it the first and only once-daily prodrug stimulant approved to treat adults with ADHD. We are well advanced with our pre-launch planning and expect to launch VYVANSE in the adult market around the middle of the year. The adult indication together with further clinical data should enable us to capture additional market share growth; we remain confident about the future of this medication.

On April 24, we announced the acquisition from Zymenex A/S of the global rights to the clinical candidate arylsulfatase-A, currently known as METAZYM, being investigated for the treatment of Metachromatic Leukodystrophy. This acquisition complements Shire's existing expertise in enzyme replacement therapies for the treatment of lysoso
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