Shire plc has announced that it licensed the North America (US and Canada) rights for the investigational HIV compound, SPD754 (also known as apricitabine), to the Australian biotechnology company Avexa Limited in return for an upfront payment of US$10 million, development and sales related milestones and royalties. Shire will also receive 8 million additional Avexa shares as part of this agreement, taking its shareholding in Avexa to just over 8 per cent.

In January 2005, Shire licensed the right to develop and commercialise apricitabine throughout the world (excluding North America) to Avexa. This agreement gives Avexa the full responsibility for the worldwide development and commercialisation of this product.

"We are very happy with Avexa's progress in developing apricitabine" stated Barbara Deptula, Shire's executive vice president, business development "and look forward to continuing this positive collaboration as the product progresses through the development process to full commercialisation".

Shire's strategic goal is to become the leading specialty pharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician. Shire focuses its business on attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), human genetic therapies (HGT), gastrointestinal (GI) and renal diseases. The structure is sufficiently flexible to allow Shire to target new therapeutic areas to the extent opportunities arise through acquisitions.

Avexa Limited is a Melbourne-based biotechnology company with a focus on research and development of drugs for the treatment of infectious diseases, in particular diseases, which have a significant unmet medical need.