Shares in Shire rose to its highest level in 10 months in London after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its Xiidra drops to treat dry-eye disease, the first treatment for the ailment to be approved in more than a decade.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai received a $100.5 million (€88.9m) pay package in 2015, according to a filing from parent company Alphabet yesterday.

Dublin-based drugmaker Shire has clinched its six-month pursuit of Baxalta International with an agreed $32 billion (€29.4bn) cash and stock offer, catapulting it to a leading position in treating rare diseases.

Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov was preparing for a meeting in Chicago on the integration of his company with AbbVie when he got the news that AbbVie was reconsidering the $52bn (€40bn) takeover.

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.