The research will involve in-depth telephone and face-to-face interviews with representatives of Shire’s key groups of stakeholders – policy makers, physicians and patient groups.

Work will be carried out across three key markets, but BritainThinks declined to say which countries.

A spokesman said that in time, the company would look to establish a physical presence overseas through staff and new offices, but for the time being work would be carried out from London and fall under the BritainThinks or WorldThinks banner depending on where projects were located.

Founding director Viki Cooke (pictured) said: “We believe that our success is largely determined by the company we keep, so we are particularly thrilled to be working with Shire, one of the most respected global speciality pharma companies.”