"Progress On All Fronts" At Shire Pharmaceuticals

During fiscal year ended June 30, 1996, Shire Pharmaceuticals, a UK company that focuses on the development and marketing of pharmaceutical products, has made a number of achievements that will have a fundamental impact on the future growth of the company.

The firm has achieved a major turnaround in profits, with pretax profits of L2.9 million ($4.5 million) in fiscal 95/96, compared with a loss of L7 million a year earlier. Earnings per share in the current year were 5.9 pence. Turnover was L21 million, which shows a growth rate of 245% for the year.

Around L9 million of the firm's total turnover came from product sales, which advanced 30%. Licensing and development fees accounted for L11.7 million, L8.2 million of which came in fees from Janssen, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, which, through an agreement concluded this year, is partnering Shire in the development of galanthamine, a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The final component of the firm's turnover is royalties, which amounted to L375,0000.