Shire Reaches Final Agreement with U.S. Government
24 Sep, 2014, 21:06 BST
PHILADELPHIA, September 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG), today announced that it has reached a final agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Northern District of Illinois, all 50 states and the District of Columbia to resolve a previously disclosed civil investigation of its sales and marketing practices for a period ending in 2010 relating to ADDERALL XR®, VYVANSE® DAYTRANA®, LIALDA® and PENTASA®.
Under the agreement, Shire will pay $56.5 million, and interest, fees, and costs, to resolve all issues investigated by the government. This final settlement includes the resolution of two related qui tam complaints filed against the Company and a voluntary disclosure relating to LIALDA and PENTASA. In addition, Shire will pay $2.9 million to resolve a previously disclosed civil complaint filed by the State of Louisiana alleging that the Company’s sales, marketing, and promotion of ADDERALL, ADDERALL XR, DAYTRANA, VYVANSE and INTUNIV violated state law. Shire has also entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services for a term of five years. Shire has not admitted any wrongdoing in connection with the agreement.
"We are pleased to have reached a resolution and to put this matter behind us," said Flemming Ornskov, Shire's Chief Executive Officer. "We remain focused on our mission of enabling people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives, and we are committed to conducting our activities to meet the highest ethical standards. The Company has had, and will continue to have, a comprehensive compliance program and internal controls to ensure we comply with applicable laws and regulations."
Shire cooperated fully with the government throughout the process that led to the agreement. The Company will continue to work collaboratively with regulators on its business activities.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Shire enables people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives.
Our strategy is to focus on developing and marketing innovative specialty medicines to meet significant unmet patient needs.
We focus on providing treatments in Neuroscience, Rare Diseases, and Gastrointestinal and Internal Medicine and are developing treatments for symptomatic conditions treated by specialist physicians in other targeted therapeutic areas, such as Ophthalmology.
THE "SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
Statements included herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. In the event such risks or uncertainties materialize, Shire's results could be materially adversely affected. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, that:
- Shire's products may not be a commercial success;
- revenues from ADDERALL XR are subject to generic erosion and revenues from INTUNIV will become subject to generic competition starting in December 2014;
- the failure to obtain and maintain reimbursement, or an adequate level of reimbursement, by third-party payors in a timely manner for Shire's products may impact future revenues, financial condition and results of operations;
- Shire conducts its own manufacturing operations for certain of its Rare Diseases products and is reliant on third party contract manufacturers to manufacture other products and to provide goods and services. Some of Shire's products or ingredients are only available from a single approved source for manufacture. Any disruption to the supply chain for any of Shire's products may result in Shire being unable to continue marketing or developing a product or may result in Shire being unable to do so on a commercially viable basis for some period of time;
- the development, approval and manufacturing of Shire's products is subject to extensive oversight by various regulatory agencies. Submission of an application for regulatory approval of any of our product candidates, such as our planned submission of a New Drug Application to the FDA for Lifitegrast, may be delayed for any number of reasons and, once submitted, may be subjected to lengthy review and ultimately rejected. Moreover, regulatory approvals or interventions associated with changes to manufacturing sites, ingredients or manufacturing processes could lead to significant delays, increase in operating costs, lost product sales, an interruption of research activities or the delay of new product launches;
- the actions of certain customers could affect Shire's ability to sell or market products profitably. Fluctuations in buying or distribution patterns by such customers can adversely impact Shire's revenues, financial condition or results of operations;
- investigations or enforcement action by regulatory authorities or law enforcement agencies relating to Shire's activities in the highly regulated markets in which it operates may result in significant legal costs and the payment of substantial compensation or fines;
- adverse outcomes in legal matters and other disputes, including Shire's ability to enforce and defend patents and other intellectual property rights required for its business, could have a material adverse effect on Shire's revenues, financial condition or results of operations;
- Shire faces intense competition for highly qualified personnel from other companies, academic institutions, government entities and other organizations. Shire is undergoing a corporate reorganization and the consequent uncertainty could adversely impact Shire's ability to attract and/or retain the highly skilled personnel needed for Shire to meet its strategic objectives;
- failure to achieve Shire's strategic objectives with respect to the acquisition of ViroPharma Incorporated may adversely affect Shire's financial condition and results of operations;
- the recommended combination with AbbVie Inc. ( " AbbVie" ) is subject to a number of conditions, including approval by shareholders and regulators and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Shire's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those risks outlined in "Item 1A: Risk Factors" in Shire's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.
For further information please contact:
Investor Relations
Jeff Poulton
jpoulton@shire.com
+1-781-482-0945
Sarah Elton-Farr
seltonfarr@shire.com
+44-1256-894157
Media
Gwen Fisher
gfisher@shire.com
+1-484-595-9836
Audrey Abernathy
aabernathy@shire.com
+1-484-595-2389
SOURCE Shire plc