Interim Chief Financial Officer James Bowling to Step Down

DUBLIN, October 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG) announces that James Bowling, Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO), has notified the Board of Directors of his decision to step down from his current role to pursue a new career opportunity as CFO of Severn Trent plc.  James will leave Shire at the end of Q1 2015 and the company will commence a search for a new CFO immediately.

Flemming Ornskov, Shire's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"James has helped build and lead a high-quality finance team at Shire. We are very grateful to him for his interim leadership over the past seven months, and his many contributions to Shire in almost ten years with the Company.  We wish him well in his future endeavors."

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Shire enables people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives.

Our strategy is to focus on developing and marketing innovative specialty medicines to meet significant unmet patient needs.

We focus on providing treatments in Neuroscience, Rare Diseases, Gastrointestinal, and Internal Medicine and we are developing treatments for symptomatic conditions treated by specialist physicians in other targeted therapeutic areas, such as Ophthalmology.

http://www.shire.com

THE "SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995  

Statements included herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time. In the event such risks or uncertainties materialize, Shire's results could be materially adversely affected. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, that:

• Shire's products may not be a commercial success;
• revenues from ADDERALL XR are subject to generic erosion and revenues from INTUNIV will become subject to generic competition starting in December 2014;
• the failure to obtain and maintain reimbursement, or an adequate level of reimbursement, by third-party payors in a timely manner for Shire's products may impact future revenues, financial condition and results of operations;
• Shire conducts its own manufacturing operations for certain of its Rare Diseases products and is reliant on third party contract manufacturers to manufacture other products and to provide goods and services. Some of Shire's products or ingredients are only available from a single approved source for manufacture. Any disruption to the supply chain for any of Shire's products may result in Shire being unable to continue marketing or developing a product or may result in Shire being unable to do so on a commercially viable basis for some period of time;
• the development, approval and manufacturing of Shire's products are subject to extensive oversight by various regulatory agencies. Submission of an application for regulatory approval of any of our product candidates, such as our planned submission of a New Drug Application to the FDA for Lifitegrast, may be delayed for any number of reasons and, once submitted, may be subjected to lengthy review and ultimately rejected. Moreover, regulatory approvals or interventions associated with changes to manufacturing sites, ingredients or manufacturing processes could lead to significant delays, increase in operating costs, lost product sales, an interruption of research activities or the delay of new product launches;
• the actions of certain customers could affect Shire's ability to sell or market products profitably. Fluctuations in buying or distribution patterns by such customers can adversely impact Shire's revenues, financial condition or results of operations;
• investigations or enforcement action by regulatory authorities or law enforcement agencies relating to Shire's activities in the highly regulated markets in which it operates may result in significant legal costs and the payment of substantial compensation or fines;
• adverse outcomes in legal matters and other disputes, including Shire's ability to enforce and defend patents and other intellectual property rights required for its business, could have a material adverse effect on Shire's revenues, financial condition or results of operations;
• Shire faces intense competition for highly qualified personnel from other companies, academic institutions, government entities and other organizations. Shire is undergoing a corporate reorganization and the consequent uncertainty could adversely impact Shire's ability to attract and/or retain the highly skilled personnel needed for Shire to meet its strategic objectives;
• failure to achieve Shire's strategic objectives with respect to the acquisition of ViroPharma Incorporated may adversely affect Shire's financial condition and results of operations;
• the recommended combination with AbbVie Inc. ( "AbbVie" ) is subject to a number of conditions, including approval by shareholders and regulators

and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Shire's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those risks outlined in "Item 1A: Risk Factors" in Shire's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.

For further information please contact:

Investor Relations
Jeff Poulton
[email protected]
+1-781-482-0945

Sarah Elton-Farr
[email protected]
+44-1256-894157

Media
Stephanie Fagan
[email protected]
+1-201-572-9581

Gwen Fisher
[email protected]
+1-484-595-9836

SOURCE Shire plc