Shire beating off generic competition

Shire Pharmaceuticals paid tribute to the US salesmen of its treatment for hyperactive children yesterday, after it said it was beating generic competition to the drug and would exceed sales and profit forecasts for the year.

The company said sales of its new once-a-day version of Adderall, called Adderall XR, were up 50 per cent in the last three months, compared with the previous quarter. The drug has won 19 per cent of new prescriptions for hyperactivity treatments and, combined with old-style Adderall, gives Shire a 26 per cent share of the market.

Analysts hailed an example of a drug company successfully switching patients away from an off-patent drug to a newer patent-protected version. And Angus Russell, Shire's finance director, said it meant the company was now able to promise "mid-to-high single digit earnings growth" in 2002.

Shire's shares have languished since February, when it issued a devastating profit warning, saying "competitive and cost pressures may compromise our ability to grow in 2002".

Yesterday, Mr Russell said: "That was us being cautious. What's changed is that our marketing people have done a marvellous job in switching people to Adderall XR and that the market dynamics have changed as well."

The number of prescriptions issued for children with ADHD – which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – grew 13 per cent in the US in the first half of the year. And Shire and others were able to push through price rises that meant the market grew by 42 per cent in sales terms.

Celltech's rival drug Metadate has failed to establish itself, and the company has decided to stop marketing it in all but a few areas. And Eli Lilly has had to put back the launch of its new rival products, which will include a formulation for use by adult sufferers of ADHD.

Shire said yesterday it was rushing work on its adult formulation of Adderall, and would submit an application for launch to the US regulatory authorities before the end of the year. It could now be on the market at around the same time as Eli Lilly's version. Shire reckons between 10 and 15 per cent of all the Adderall sold is already being taken by adults, who are prescribed the drug by doctors acting on their own initiative.