PHILADELPHIA and DUBLIN, February 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that Mr Matthew Emmens, non-executive Chairman of Shire, has been appointed President of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated with immediate effect and that Mr Emmens will in addition become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vertex in May 2009 when the current Chief Executive Officer retires.

    This announcement is made pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.14R.

    Tony Guthrie
    Deputy Company Secretary


    Notes to editors
    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 (ADHD), human genetic therapies (HGT) and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases 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: http://www.shire.com.

    For further information please contact:

    Investor Relations
    Clea Rosenfeld (Rest of the World)
    +44-1256-894-160

    Eric Rojas (North America)
    +1-617-551-9715

    Media
    Matthew Cabrey (Specialty Pharma)
    +1-484-595-8248

    Jessica Cotrone (HGT)
    +1-617-613-4640

SOURCE Shire plc