Shire was a global biotechnology company focused on serving people with rare diseases and other highly specialized conditions.

The company's products were available in more than 100 countries across core therapeutic areas including Hematology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Lysosomal Storage Disorders, Gastrointestinal / Internal Medicine / Endocrine and Hereditary Angioedema; a growing franchise in Oncology; and an emerging, innovative pipeline in Ophthalmics.

Main offices are located in Dublin, Ireland, the United States in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois, and in Zug, Switzerland.

Shire was founded in 1986 in the UK by five entrepreneurs: Harry Stratford, Dennis Stephens, Peter Moriarty, Geoff Hall and Dr Jim Murray.

[9] Shire's next acquisition didn't come until 2005 when it acquired Transkaryotic Therapeutics[10] and two years later – in 2007 – New River Pharmaceuticals Inc, for a then company record of $2.6 billion.

[12] In 2008, in reaction to new taxation measures announced by the UK government in the treatment of royalties on patents, the company moved its tax domicile to Dublin, Ireland.

[16] 2013 saw the company complete its highest number of acquisitions with Lotus Tissue Repair, Inc. (lead compound, ABH001),[17] SARcode Bioscience Inc.,[18] with the last being ViroPharma.

As well as expanding the company's pipeline with a late-stage treatment candidate for infectious conjunctivitis with lead candidate FST-100 and increasing the company's rare disease catalogue with Dyax's portfolio of plasma kallikrein inhibitors against hereditary angioedema (led by the approved drug Kalbitor and the Phase III DX-2930).

[51] Ginger Gregory as chief human resources officer, Jeffrey Poulton as CFO, and Philip Vickers as head of R&D.

[54] In September 2014, Shire reached a $56.5 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged violations of the False Claims Act.

The Justice Department alleged that Shire had improperly marketed and promoted Adderall XR, Daytrana, Vyvane, Pentasa, and Lialda during various periods between 2004 and 2010.

The allegations included claims that Shire had made exaggerated and false statements regarding product safety, promoted medications for non-FDA approved off-label use, and marketed products on unsubstantiated claims of beneficial side effects, including reductions in criminality, traffic accidents, sexually transmitted infections, and divorce rates.