Pharma group Shire produces top-of-the-range earnings

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Pharmaceuticals group Shire on Thursday said it was extremely optimistic about long-term growth after reporting a 12 percent rise in earnings for the past year in which it made its largest ever acquisition. Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov said Shire had delivered record product sales and earnings in a year when it bought haemophilia drugs company Baxalta for $32 billion (26 billion pounds) and launched a new medicine for dry eye disease. Total product sales wou