Recognizes SickKids' significant contribution to the lives of Canadians
TORONTO, Oct. 13, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Shire Canada Inc. announced today a $200,000 gift to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Foundation. A joint contribution of Shire Canada's ADHD Business Unit and Shire Human Genetic Therapies (Canada) teams, the funds will go towards the Hospital's new Research & Learning Tower as well as the ADHD section of its About Kids Health program.
"We are grateful to Shire for their support of two important projects underway at SickKids," says Adrian Horwood, Vice President, Corporate Partnerships, SickKids Foundation. "This gift will help the Hospital continue to provide expert medical information, online and in print, to families affected by ADHD. It is also an important contribution to the largest capital campaign in SickKids history, supporting the Research & Learning Tower which will be home to 2,000 research staff in 2013."
"Shire's purpose is to enable people with life-altering diseases lead better lives and we feel that SickKids, a centre of excellence in paediatric care, learning and research, embodies that spirit well," affirms Claude Perron, Vice-President and General Manager, Shire Canada. "Our gift is a way of recognizing the Hospital's important contribution to the lives of numerous Canadians."
Shire's gift will help, in part, to further develop the About Kids Health website by developing additional ADHD tools, including videos, to support parents and families. A portion of the gift will also support SickKids Foundation's $200 million capital campaign toward the construction and operating costs of the new Research & Learning Tower.
"At Shire, we know that better health follows advances in research and improvements in care," says Paul McCabe, Senior Managing Director for Shire Human Genetic Therapies' team in Canada. "SickKids excels in bringing research from bench to bedside, making a positive impact on the lives of Canadians every day. We are proud to contribute to the Hospital's continued leadership."
Shire is a global biopharmaceutical company that operates, in Canada, under two entities: Shire Canada is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses mostly on the therapeutic areas of ADHD, ulcerative colitis and renal disease, while Shire Human Genetics Therapies (Canada) is geared towards finding treatments for rare, genetic disorders.
About SickKids Foundation
Established in 1972, SickKids Foundation raises funds on behalf of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and is the largest charitable funder of child health research, learning and care in Canada. Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids -- one of the world's foremost paediatric health-care institutions. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, SickKids Foundation made an investment of $61.9 million in children's health, a direct result of community and corporate support. For more information, please visit www.sickkidsfoundation.com.
About Shire plc
Shire's strategic goal is to become the leading specialty biopharmaceutical company that focuses on meeting the needs of the specialist physician. Shire focuses its business on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, human genetic therapies, gastrointestinal diseases and regenerative medicine as well as opportunities in other therapeutic areas to the extent they arise through acquisitions. Shire's in-licensing, merger and acquisition efforts are focused on products in specialist markets with strong intellectual property protection and global rights. Shire believes that a carefully selected and balanced portfolio of products with strategically aligned and relatively small-scale sales forces will deliver strong results.
For further information on Shire, please visit the Company's website: www.shire.com.
About Shire Canada Inc.
Shire Canada is a division of Shire plc. Shire Canada's operations are headquartered in St-Laurent (Montreal), Quebec. For further information about Shire Canada Inc., please visit the company's website: www.shirecanada.com.
For further information:
Brigitte Viel
bviel@shire.com
514-787-5114