Shire: An Emerging Firm With A Difference

UK-based emerging drug company Shire Pharmaceuticals is unlike many emergent health care companies, according to Rolf Stahel, the firm's chief executive. Speaking at the eighth annual Lehman Brothers European healthcare conference this month, he said: "Shire is already successfully marketing and licensing products now, as well as developing a portfolio of new products for future commercialization."

Established in 1986, the firm is different in other ways too. Shire does no basic research and has no in-house manufacturing, nor does it plan to have any. The company secures its income through pure royalties on end-user sales or via a mark-up on product sales that it organizes with contract manufacturers.

Mr Stahel said that Shire has formulated a unique and winning approach, which is based on a strategy summarized as possession, position and pace.