Shire CEO hints at an upcoming biotech buyout

Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov

Now that Shire is getting a $1.64 billion windfall from AbbVie ($ABBV) after being left at the M&A altar, analysts have been doing some speculating about what Shire ($SHPG) will buy now. CEO Flemming Ornskov had already done 6 buyouts before AbbVie came along with a now-derailed bid. And in an interview with Investor's Business Daily, he hints that he'd like to do something similar to the $4.5 billion ViroPharma acquisition, which added a new product to the portfolio while helping spur sales of an existing drug. Says Ornskov: "That's a good pattern for us: building on domain expertise we have, making a targeted acquisition, then performing very well with the acquired asset and the spillover effect on our existing asset." Interview