Shire Launches Educational Resources For Individuals With ADHD, Their Families, And Health Care Professionals

The ADHD: A Shared Focus TM program and the ADHD and You Web site are designed to provide education about Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), a global specialty biopharmaceutical company, has recently launched new educational programs for individuals with ADHD, their families, and health care professionals. Shire is providing these educational programs in the United States through multiple channels, including printed resources and a new Web site.

ADHD: A Shared Focus is a comprehensive educational program that is designed to help patients, caregivers, and health care professionals understand ADHD.  The program is distributed by Shire Patient Advocacy Specialists.  Shire Patient Advocacy Specialists provide educational resources to health care professionals such as psychologists, therapists, and ADHD coaches.

The most recent addition to Shire’s ADHD educational resources is ADHDandYou.com.  The Web site includes three segments: People with ADHD, Parents and Caregivers, and Health Care Professionals.  The Web site provides information about ADHD, the diagnosis of ADHD, and explains potential components of an ADHD management plan.  Whether you have ADHD or you care for someone who does, ADHDandYou.com is dedicated to helping you understand ADHD.

“Through the work Shire has done in the field of ADHD to support patients, caregivers, and health care professionals, we have gained a tremendous depth of knowledge about ADHD,” said Michael Yasick, Senior Vice President of Shire’s Behavioral Health Business Unit.  “As a result, we identified a need for more resources for people impacted by ADHD and those who care for them.  The goal of these resources is to encourage dialogue between people with ADHD, their caregivers, and health care professionals.”

These resources are part of Shire’s patient-centric approach that offers support to people with ADHD as well as caregivers and advocates of people with ADHD.

ABOUT ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurobehavioral disorder that manifests as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity and is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development.

ADHD is one of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. Although many people tend to think of ADHD as a childhood problem, 60% to 85% of children with ADHD may continue to meet the criteria for the disorder during their teenage years.  Nearly 50% of children with ADHD may continue to meet the criteria for the disorder into adulthood, based on parent report.  The disorder is estimated to affect 4.4 percent of US adults aged 18 to 44 based on results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.  When this percentage is extrapolated to the full US population aged 18 and over, approximately 10 million adults are estimated to have ADHD.

The specific etiology of ADHD is unknown, and there is no single diagnostic test for this disorder.  Adequate diagnosis requires the use of medical and special psychological, educational, and social resources, utilizing diagnostic criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR®) or International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10).

Although there is no cure for ADHD, there are accepted treatments that have been demonstrated to improve symptoms.  Standard treatments include educational approaches, psychological therapies which may include behavioral modification, and/or medication.

For further information please contact:

Media         

Gwen Fisher (Specialty Pharma)  
[email protected]
+1 484 595 9836

Notes to editors

SHIRE PLC

Shire’s strategic goal is to become the leading specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician.  Shire focuses its business on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, human genetic therapies, gastrointestinal diseases and regenerative medicine as well as opportunities in other therapeutic areas to the extent they arise through acquisitions.  Shire’s in-licensing, merger and acquisition efforts are focused on products in specialist markets with strong intellectual property protection and global rights.  Shire believes that a carefully selected and balanced portfolio of products with strategically aligned and relatively small-scale sales forces will deliver strong results. For further information on Shire, please visit the Company’s website: .

"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, the Company’s results could be materially adversely affected. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with: the inherent uncertainty of research, development, approval, reimbursement, manufacturing, and commercialization of the Company’s Specialty Pharmaceutical and Human Genetic Therapies products, as well as the ability to secure and integrate new products for commercialization and/or development; government regulation of the Company’s products; the Company’s ability to manufacture its products in sufficient quantities to meet demand; the impact of competitive therapies on the Company’s products; the Company’s ability to register, maintain, and enforce patents and other intellectual property rights relating to its products; the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain government and other third-party reimbursement for its products; and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.