As UCB grows, CEO Tellier pledges to keep chasing innovation

UCB (Euronext: UCB) rose 1.2% on Thursday after it published financial results for the first half of 2018. The Belgian drugmaker, which specializes in immunology and neurology, reported 5% sales increases and a 2% rise in overall revenue over the first half of 2017.

The two stars of UCB's catalog — rheumatic therapy Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) and anticonvulsant Vimpat (lacosamide) — both outperformed their 2017 figures, the former by 2% and the latter by 10%. Unusually, these gains weren't driven by American sales. Cimzia drew in less revenue from the USA than in the first half of last year, while Vimpat secured 21% growth in Europe, 34% growth in other international markets and just 5% from the USA.

In conversation with The Pharma Letter, Jean-Cristophe Tellier — UCB's chief executive since 2015 — drew attention to the success of the company's core therapies.