By Jason Douglas
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. drug maker Shire PLC (SHP.LN) Friday swung to a third quarter net profit and said an as yet unapproved drug for a rare disease has been made available to up to 600 U.S. patients amid a shortage of the only other medicine available.
Shire said velaglucerase alfa has been made available to between 300 and 600 sufferers of Gaucher disease, a rare genetic condition characterized by an inability to break down types of fats that subsequently build up in blood vessels, tissues and organs.
The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, asked Shire to step in following a shortage of Gaucher treatment Cerezyme caused by manufacturing problems at the facilities of its U.S. maker, Genzyme Corp. (GENZ). Velaglucerase alfa, or vela, is being supplied free ahead of formal FDA approval.
Vela will be made available to several hundred more patients in 2010, Shire said.
Basingstoke, England-based Shire said third quarter net profit was $59.6 million, compared with a loss of $34.9 million a year earlier. Revenue declined 15% to $602.5 million from $712.5 million.
Revenue was hurt by a 74% year-on-year fall in sales of Adderall XR, a treatment for hyperactivity that's now losing ground to cut-price generic copies.
Sales of newer hyperactivity drug Vyvanse rose 34% to $129 million, however.
At 1218 GMT, shares in Shire were up 32 pence or 3% at 1,055 pence, outperforming a 0.2% higher FTSE 100 index.
-By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; jason.douglas@dowjones.com
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