DUBLIN, Ireland, October 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Shire Limited (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces that following the approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on September 24, 2008, the Company has changed its name to Shire plc with effect from today.

Shire plc's ticker symbols on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ and the ISIN numbers of the Company's Ordinary shares and American Depositary Shares will remain unchanged.

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 and 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), +1-484-595-8252

For further information please contact: Investor Relations: Clea Rosenfeld (Rest of the World), +44-1256-894-160; Eric Rojas (North America), +1-484-595-8252.