Shire shares fall after reporting drop in sales of haemophilia drugs

The pharmaceutical company Shire has reported a drop in sales of haemophilia drugs, its biggest source of revenue since the $ 32bn acquisition of US firm Baxalta was completed in June.

The London-listed company’s third-quarter results disappointed the City. Shire shares closed down 2.6% at £45.28, the second day of falls, as investors also worried about the future pricing of haemophilia drugs in the US.

On Monday, Express Scripts, the largest manager of prescription drug plans for US companies, said it was looking at ways to manage the rising cost of haemophilia medicines.

Hillary Clinton is expected to tackle drug pricing if she wins the US presidential election. The Democratic candidate has repeatedly lambasted high pricing – describing that of EpiPen, drug firm Mylan’s emergency treatment of anaphylaxis, as “outrageous” and accusing entrepreneur Martin Shkreli of “price gouging” vital medicines.

Shire’s chief executive, Flemming Ørnskov, admitted that firms that managed prescription US drug plans wanted to “manage a number of categories more tightly” including haemophilia.

“We live in an environment, certainly during a presidential campaign, where price is in high focus,” he said.

“We can expect for all our categories, not just haemophilia, tighter management, but we have the programmes in place to make sure this does not affect our patients and has limited impact on our overall business. I remain incredibly confident about the outlook for haemophilia.”

Ørnskov said existing patients would not be forced to switch haemophilia medications as this would be considered too risky.

The Danish businessman was upbeat about Shire’s new drug for dry eye disease. Launched in August, Xiidra has already taken a 16% market share in the US. The eye drop is expected to generate annual sales of more than $ 1bn by 2020.

Shire said its integration of Illinois-based Baxalta, which specialises in treatments for rare blood conditions, cancer and immune system disorders, was ahead of schedule.

Sales of haemophilia medicines, also acquired from Baxalta, fell by 6% to $ 884m in the three months to 30 September, which Shire blamed on the timing of some large orders.

Overall, sales more than doubled to $ 3.3bn after the acquisition, but this was slightly lower than analysts had expected. Excluding Baxalta, revenues rose 12%.

Costs related to the takeover were also higher than Shire expected, partly because it has accelerated some factory closures in the US.

Shire is based in Dublin for tax purposes and run from Boston. As announced in the spring, it is pushing ahead with the closure of its Basingstoke office, where 270 people work.

The company wants to open an office in the Paddington, London, as its UK commercial base, so it can be “closer to the heart of life science communities”. There has been speculation that some staff may be moved to Dublin.

Shire shares fall after reporting drop in sales of haemophilia drugs

Warsan Shire: youthful poet laureate wields her pen against FGM

Warsan Shire won the 2013 Brunel prize for African poetry and is portion of a new wave of British Somali writers and activists. Photograph: Vimeo

Warsan Shire, London’s initial young poet laureate, has written a poem backing the campaign calling on the training secretary, Michael Gove, to write to all headteachers telling them to inform teachers and mother and father about the hazards of female genital mutilation.

Shire, viewed as one particular of the outstanding poets of her generation, is supporting the campaign led by 17-yr-outdated Bristol schoolgirl Fahma Mohamed, and backed by the Guardian and FGM campaigners.

She believes awareness wants to be raised to guarantee that the practice is eradicated. More than 207,000 have signed the petition.

Shire is the daughter of Somali dad and mom who moved to London to escape the war in their home nation.

She is portion of a new wave of British Somali writers and activists.

“I compose a lot of poetry portraits that are based mostly on the girls in my family members and the ladies close to me since it’s so important to reclaim that voice and inform these stories and that it be genuine and trustworthy,” she told the Guardian.

“But a whole lot of those ladies have had people experiences [of FGM]. In every poem regardless of whether its about a adore poem or about war, or reconciling with your physique [FGM] is always in the background since it is a fact of existence”.

One particular of her earlier poems, The Things We Misplaced in the Summer was inspired by the experiences of people she knew who were to be minimize when they had been on the cusp of puberty.

Her new poem, Ladies, was written solely for Fahma’s campaign and is read by Warsan on theguardian.com on Monday. The poet hopes that it gives voice to how FGM is viewed from different perspectives.

The 2013 winner of the Brunel Prize for African Poetry, Shire’s operate has been described by a single of the judges as reflecting ‘a remarkable instinct or freshness of language and insightful concepts. It is specifically thrilling to read a poet who manages to mix a dedication to substance and urgent topic materials with the craft to flip it into illuminating and moving poetry.’

Shire’s debut anthology, ‘Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth’, published in 2011 is presently Amazon’s No one ideal seller for African American poetry despite Warsan currently being British. Her work has also been translated into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish and Estonian and she has recited in South Africa, Germany, Canada, America and Kenya.

The aim of the Finish FGM campaign which was commenced two weeks in the past by Fahma Mohamed is to have the details about FGM taught in all United kingdom colleges. Gove has agreed to meet Fahma at the finish of this month.

Warsan Shire: youthful poet laureate wields her pen against FGM