Shire's $10B mission

Shire plc (LSE:SHP; NASDAQ:SHPG) laid down detailed plans to double its sales by 2020 in a bid to fend off AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV). But two investors told BioCentury Shire will likely need to add products through a major M&A deal to hit the target as organic growth alone may not be sufficient.

Following Shire's June 20 announcement that it rejected an unsolicited offer from AbbVie for about £27.7 billion ($47 billion), the specialty pharma pitched investors on a strategy that would see it grow product sales from $4.8 billion last year to $10 billion in 2020...