UCB

UCB SA, a biopharmaceutical company, develops products and solutions for people with neurology and immunology diseases. The company's primary products include Cimzia for inflammatory TNF mediated diseases, as well as ankylosing spondylitis, axial spondyloarthritis, Crohn's disease, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis; Vimpat, Keppra, and Briviact for epilepsy; Neupro for Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome; Nayzilam, a nasal spray rescue treatment for epilepsy seizure clusters; and Zyrtec and Xyzal for allergies. It also offers Evenity for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; BIMZELX for treating psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and hidradenitis suppurativa; and dapirolizumab pegol for systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, the company is involved in developing rozanolixizumab to treat myasthenia gravis, immune thrombocytopenia, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; zilucoplan to treat myasthenia gravis and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy; staccato alprazolam to treat tereotypical prolonged seizure; Bepranemab to treat Alzheimer's disease; and UCB0599 to treat Parkinson's disease. Further, it engages in contract manufacturing activities. UCB SA has collaboration agreements with Amgen, Biogen, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Otsuka, and doc.ai. It operates in the United States, Japan, Germany, rest of Europe, Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, China, Belgium, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1925 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

UCB was founded on 18 January 1928 by Emmanuel Janssen, a Belgian businessman. Initially focused on industrial chemicals , the company also included a small pharmaceutical division based around Meurice Laboratories.

In the early 1950s, UCB set up a research centre where new medicines such as Atarax were developed. Successful sales enabled the pharmaceutical division to expand, and led to the discovery of another important compound, called piracetam. This was marketed in the 1970s as Nootropil and used to treat memory and balance problems. It remains one of UCB's key products. At this time, UCB was a company focusing on three core areas: pharmaceuticals, chemicals and films.

The success of Nootropil made it possible for UCB to build a modern pharmaceutical site in Braine-l'Alleud, south of Brussels. There, UCB developed Zyrtec , a blockbuster antihistamine. Other important products have followed, including Keppra , Xyzal , and Cimzia , which arrived through the acquisition of Celltech.

At the end of 2002, the chemicals and films divisions were merged and UCB added the resins, additives and adhesives activities of Solutia to form the surface specialties division. The films part was then sold to Innovia Films in September 2004. The chemicals division methylamines and derivatives was spun off and later sold to form the company Taminco.

In May 2004, UCB acquired the British biotechnology company Celltech, followed in March 2005 by the sale of the surface specialties to Cytec Industries. By divesting all of its non-pharmaceutical activities and acquiring Celltech , UCB transformed itself into a global biopharmaceutical company.In 2006, UCB started the purchase of the German pharmaceutical company Schwarz for €4 billion. As of July 2007, UCB holds approximately 87% of Schwarz's outstanding shares. The purchase of Schwarz enabled UCB to introduce two new drugs against CNS disorders: Neupro , a transdermal patch for treatment of Parkinson's disease, and Vimpat , an anticonvulsant. Another drug in the Schwarz portfolio, Toviaz , a compound to treat overactive bladder, was licensed to Pfizer in 2006.

In 2008, UCB established a multi-year collaboration with Beryllium, a developer of treatments for immune and CNS disorders. By 2014, this collaboration had yielded "significant scientific breakthroughs", which led to UCB acquiring a minority stake in the company.In November 2014, UCB announced its intention to sell off its generics subsidiary for more than $1.5 billion to two private equity firms.In 2015, UCB announced the sale of its branded generics business in India and South Asia to Dr. Reddy's Laboratories for INR 8 billion . In September of the same year the company offloaded its generics business to Lannett for $1.23 billion.In October 2019 UCB announced that it would acquire immune system disease specialist Ra Pharma for $2.1 billion. On April 2, 2020, UCB announced that the acquisition has been successfully completed.In January 2022, the company announced it would acquire Zogenix for $1.9 billion .

UCB is continuously working to advance science and embrace new knowledge. We are leveraging scientific advances and skills in areas such as genetics, biomarkers and human biology.

UCB's ambition is to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases. We focus on neurology and immunology disorders - putting patients at the center of our world. We are Inspired by Patients. Driven by Science.