UCB celebrates 10 years of investment in the UK since acquiring Celltech

Belgian drugmaker UCB (Euronext Brussels: UCB) is today celebrating 10 years presence in the UK, following the company’s acquisition of the British biotechnology company Celltech in 2004.

At the time of acquisition, Celltech was Europe’s leading biotechnology company and this strategic move by UCB aimed to harness the latest scientific breakthroughs to develop new and innovative medicines. Celltech pioneered advanced antibody technologies and encouraged partnership and collaboration between industry and academia. Some 10 years later, this approach and drive to deliver breakthrough medicines to the clinic remains at the heart of UCB’s research and development (R&D) activities, the company said today.

Roch Doliveux, UCB’s chief executive, said: “In 2004 UCB was at the start of a transformational journey. By bringing together Celltech and UCB we have pushed the boundaries of science to discover breakthrough medicines that can improve the lives of millions of people across the globe. To that end, UCB has continuously been investing significantly in R&D: in 2013 our company had the highest R&D spend per employee amongst top European companies across all sectors and UCB has now the second most productive late stage pipeline of the Biopharma industry.”

Collaborations

Since the acquisition of Celltech, UCB has significantly increased its annual UK R&D expenditure from £84 million ($140.7 million) a year in 2003 to £142 million ($237.8 million) in 2012 – making it one of the UK’s leading bio-pharmaceutical R&D investors. The UK is home to UCB’s global immunology research center of excellence and head-office for the UK & Irish commercial organization. Employing over 700 staff in the UK has given UCB a premier discovery team who, when appropriate, augment their skills through strategic collaborations with academia and other cutting-edge companies resulting in over 150 collaborative R&D relationships.

Neil Weir, senior vice president of discovery, UCB NewMedicines, added: “Collaborations with universities and other cutting-edge companies are a vital element of UCB’s open innovation approach to drug discovery; they can accelerate innovation and lead to the development of new technologies. We believe that the successful and sustainable company of the future will be the one at the middle of a ‘super’ network of partners driving the exploitation of compelling biology into medicines that deliver real benefits to patients. These super networks will consist of academic, government and private partners, and will deliver the flexibility to generate, develop and commercialize medicines that bring benefit to very broad patient populations through to orphan indications”.

Exciting pipeline

Ismail Kola executive vice president and president UCB NewMedicines, said: “Our early-stage pipeline focusses on potential breakthrough medicines that are truly differentiated from existing standard of care and deliver significant value for patients with severe diseases such as lupus, other autoimmune and neurological diseases. We are also ruthless about eliminating projects that do not meet this high bar; the wealth and quality of our pipeline and innovation allows us to make these choices. Looking ahead, UCB plans to harness internal and external expertise in antibody and small molecules to develop highly effective and novel medicines for difficult to treat conditions in immunology and neurology. In addition to these efforts, our breakthrough programs and technologies are paving the way for exciting new developments that are at the cutting-edge of scientific understanding.”