LONDON (Reuters) - Shire Plc (>> Shire PLC) shares gained more than 3 percent on Monday following news U.S. regulators had approved NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc's (>> NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) drug Natpara, validating Shire's decision to buy NPS for $5.2 billion (3 billion pounds).

Natpara is designed to treat hypoparathyroidism, a rare condition in which the body's parathyroid gland does not secrete enough parathyroid hormone.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Mark Potter)

Stocks treated in this article : NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Shire PLC