Appointment confirms UCB's commitment to this unique public-private partnership
Brussels (Belgium), May 18, 2010 - press release - UCB announced today that CEO
Roch Doliveux has joined the Governing Board of the Innovative Medicines
Initiative (IMI), a public-private partnership between the European Union and
the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA),
of which UCB has been a member since its initiation in 2006.
The goal of the IMI is to improve the environment for biomedical research and
development in Europe and to promote innovation through open collaboration. With
its unique and innovative funding mechanism, IMI supports research to speed up
the development of better and safer medicines for patients. The European
Commission contributes €1 billion to the IMI via its Seventh Framework
Programme. This amount is matched by in-kind contributions of at least another
€1 billion euro from EFPIA member companies.
"One of UCB's strategies is 'Partnering to increase value and efficiency'. This
statement of belief is at the heart of the IMI," says Roch Doliveux. "As a
leading player in European biomedical research, and through our collaboration
with the top-quality consortia established within IMI, we are working to improve
the efficiency of the industry in bringing safe, efficacious, cost-effective
treatments to patients. The collaborative programmes within IMI allow the
partners to share pre-competitive data that support drug discovery efforts,
bringing not just efficiencies, but also societal and socio-economic benefits."
UCB is a significant contributor to the Innovative Medicines Initiative, and is
participating in 10 of the 15 initial consortia within IMI. UCB is providing
expert input on topics including neurodegenerative disorders, pain research,
immunogenicity, predictive toxicology, pharmacovigilance, translational safety
biomarkers, and strategies for treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,
as well as a number of training programmes.
Beyond IMI, UCB is partnering widely with academic and industrial research
organisations, to increase value and efficiency, and to stimulate innovation.
UCB now has several hundred collaborative alliances, ranging from partnerships
with European and US academic groups, to multiple industrial partnerships, and
membership of major government-led consortia. Reflecting the location of UCB's
research 'hubs', the network of academic collaboration is most extensive in
Belgium, Germany and the UK where UCB has over 150 partnerships with academic
institutions.
Note to editors
* Roch Doliveux joined UCB in October 2003 as Director General of the Pharma
Sector and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee. He became CEO and
Chairman of the Executive Committee of UCB Group on January 1, 2005. He is a
member of the Board of Directors of UCB, as well as a member of the Board of the
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Association (EFPIA), of the INSEAD
International Council, the Science & Business Innovation Board, the Caring
Entrepreneurship Fund (King Baudouin Foundation) and WELBIO (Walloon Institute
for Life Lead Sciences).
* The Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (IMI JU) is the largest
public-private partnership in the area of medical research. It is an innovative
collaboration established between the European Commission and the European
Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). The objective
is to make the drug discovery and development process more efficient, to bring
safer and better medicines faster to patients, and to boost biomedical
innovation in Europe. For more information, visit www.imi.europa.eu
<
http://www.imi.europa.eu/>
For further information
Nancy Nackaerts, External Communications, UCB
T +32.473.864.414 or +32.2.559.92.64,nancy.nackaerts@ucb.com
<mailto:nancy.nackaerts@ucb.com>
About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com <
http://www.ucb.com/>) is a
biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the research, development and
commercialization of innovative medicines with a focus on the fields of central
nervous system and immunology disorders. Employing more than 9 000 people in
over 40 countries, UCB produced revenue of EUR 3.1 billion in 2009. UCB is
listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB).
Forward looking statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current plans,
estimates and beliefs of management. Such statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from
those that may be implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this
press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include:
changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, effects of
future judicial decisions, changes in regulation, exchange rate fluctuations and
hiring and retention of its employees.
For the pdf-version of this press release, please click on the link below:
[HUG#1416494]
Press Release (PDF):
http://hugin.info/133973/R/1416494/367103.pdf