Shire flags new drugs in bid to show $46bn AbbVie overture undervalues it

Irish-headquartered biopharma company, Shire flagged the promise of existing and new drugs yesterday as evidence that US giant AbbVie’s $46bn offer undervalued the company — the latest British firm to be targeted by a US group seeking lower taxes.

Shire is taking a leaf out of AstraZeneca’s playbook by disclosing long-range internal forecasts — a tactic used successfully by its larger London-listed rival in fending off a $118bn bid from Pfizer. Chief executive Flemming Ornskov said yesterday that current products would generate sales of at least $7bn by 2020, with $3bn more coming from drugs still in the pipeline.

Shire also said that in the medium term, it expected sales of $6.5bn by 2016. The company, best known for hyperactivity and rare-disease drugs, had said on Friday that it was aiming to more than double sales to $10bn by 2020, without giving details.