Shire Pharmaceuticals Opens US HQ in Philadelphia

Shire Pharmaceuticals picks site of U.S. HQ - 2004-03-30 - Philadelphia Business Journal - March 30, 2004

Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC, a British pharmaceutical company, signed a 10-year lease at the Chesterbrook Corporate Center in Tredyffrin, Pa. as the site for its new American headquarters. The company has settled on 725 Chesterbrook Blvd., space that once served as the headquarters of another pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca, which moved to Delaware. Shire would lease the entire 128,000-square-foot building, according to various real estate sources.

The space will house the company's research and development as well as administrative and marketing departments, said Souheil Salah, a spokesman with Shire. Shire, which last year operated 14 research and manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada last year, is seeking to reduce that number to four by the end of 2005, Salah said. As part of that process of consolidating its North American operations, the company decided it wanted to open an East Coast headquarters that would eventually have about 300 employees. Salah said that the headquarters will have 150 employees to start out and grow from there.

Founded in 1994 in Hampshire, Chineham, England, Shire focuses primarily on four therapeutic areas: central nervous system disorders, metabolic diseases, cancer and gastroenterology. Shire generated revenue of $1.2 billion last year, up from $1 billion in 2002. Sphere: Related Content