A year ago, I returned to the U.S. to serve as President of one of UCB’s fastest-growing regions; and I was excited about the opportunity and the challenge because I knew I could help make a difference in people’s lives. At UCB, we are on a journey of a decade+ of unprecedented growth. Since 2017, we’ve received 15 FDA approvals or indication expansions in the U.S., eight of which came in just the past two years.

Over the past year, I’ve learned a lot from our employees, key stakeholders in the U.S. health system, and most of all, from the patients we serve. If I can simplify my focus, it is to help guide our amazing team in communicating the value of our medicines, which have and continue to provide differentiated value to address unmet needs and contribute to elevating the lives of the patients and caregivers we serve. Second, we strive to reach as many people that can benefit from our innovative medications as possible – because if we don’t, we are failing patients and society.

The Value of Differentiation in Treating Severe Diseases

I have an affinity for data and numbers. I've always believed that data can help improve the human experience and change people's lives. If you truly understand the patient, their environment, and their biology, you begin to understand the unmet need. Sometimes it’s a clinical outcome or an end score that still needs to be improved. But sometimes it's far more subtle, and it has to do with the quality of life or the ability of a person to manage their day. Once you truly appreciate the context, you can use that insight to develop medicines and bring them to market.

For instance, in dermatology and rheumatology, standard clinical measures are used to identify how well a medicine works. UCB is leading the way in setting higher standards for treatments across immunology. For example, in our PsA clinical trials, we used the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)50 endpoint, which signifies a 50% improvement in symptoms and disease, as a measure of success.^1,2 This endpoint is more rigorous than the more commonly used ACR20, the 20% improvement marker. In hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), our clinical trial program also included the more stringent clinical outcomes of HiSCR75, HiSCR90 and HiSCR100 in addition to the standard HiSCR50.³ Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis patients typically cycle through treatments for years due to lack of continued response.⁴ That’s why in psoriatic disease, we are continuously studying solutions that could provide long-term, complete, or nearly complete skin clearance. By setting higher standards, we prioritize developing differentiated medicines that make a significant impact on patient health.

We also have a strong history in creating medicines that elevate people’s lives living with neurological conditions. Specifically, in rare diseases like generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), no two patients are alike. Every patient is unique, and because we know this, our approach has been to create tailor-made solutions that are relevant for specific patients. In gMG, we can offer physicians and patients a portfolio of medicines with two different mechanisms of actions and two different methods of administration. We also offer patients the first targeted therapy for MuSK-positive patients, and the first subcutaneous self-administered injection, offering patients an option to administer their medication at home.

In epilepsy, the story is different but equally compelling. We have a thirty-year history of creating epilepsy medicines, including chronic and acute solutions. As part of our commitment to advance the scientific understanding for specific patient populations, we have also been exploring disease-modifying solutions for people living with epilepsy and rare syndromes. Because of our long history and expertise, clinical data decades ago have led to changes in treatment paradigms and how patients have been treated. As part of that progression, now more than 30% of all U.S. patients on any epilepsy medication are on a UCB-originated molecule.⁵

Bringing Medicine Closer to U.S. Patients

As part of our efforts to serve people living with severe disease in the U.S., we also recently announced a significant investment in a new, state-of-the-art biologics manufacturing facility. By building manufacturing capabilities in the U.S., we are bringing our medicines closer to patients, representing the full depth of our patient value chain, from research, to development, to commercial, and manufacturing operations.

As we execute on our strategy of a decade+ of growth, the site will support the commercial production of recently approved and future pipeline medicines — ensuring we’re ready to deliver tomorrow’s innovations in the U.S. and abroad. The manufacturing project is expected to deliver a total economic impact of approximately $5 billion in the U.S. UCB is also continuing to scale up its partnerships with U.S. contract manufacturing organizations to ensure manufacturing supports the increasing demand for our innovative portfolio.

Our efforts are being undertaken with our North Star in mind – to help elevate peoples’ lives – in the treatments we develop and how we maximize the full depth of our patient value chain in the U.S.

I believe that our medicines can make genuine impacts in how patients live their lives to the fullest and we should strive to make sure we reach as many patients that can benefit from our solutions as we can. If we cannot do that, we're failing patients and society.

References:

1. McInnes IB, Asahina A, Coates LC, et al. Bimekizumab in patients with psoriatic arthritis, naive to biologic treatment: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial (BE OPTIMAL). Lancet. 2023;401(10370):25-37.
2. Merola JF, Landewé R, McInnes IB, et al. Bimekizumab in patients with active psoriatic arthritis and previous inadequate response or intolerance to tumour necrosis factor-α inhibitors: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial (BE COMPLETE). Lancet. 2023;401(10370):38-48. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02303-0.
3. UCB press release, October 2023.
4. Kerdel F, Zaiac M. An evolution in switching therapy for psoriasis patients who fail to meet treatment goals. Dermatol Ther. 2015 Nov-Dec;28(6):390-403. doi: 10.1111/dth.12267. Epub 2015 Aug 10. PMID: 26258910; PMCID: PMC5042073.
5. IQVIA MIDAS data - UCB calculations; US: factorized IQVIA NPA data, CN hospital data only. Shares are Treatment Days shares in the Epilepsy Market. AG, autogenerica; ASMs, anti-seizure medications; CN, China; FY, financial year; LEV, levetiracetam; LCS, lacosamide; NPA, national prescription audit.