The global credit crunch and the equity meltdown may have caused pain to companies in most sectors, but it has had unexpected benefits for cash-rich established drugmakers such as Shire, the Ireland-based speciality pharmaceutical business.

“It has strengthened our negotiating position,” says Angus Russell, chief executive, who has completed a string of deals in recent years, including a friendly takeover currently being completed of Jerini, a Berlin-based biotech company.