UCB announces next chief executive

UCB has revealed that its next chief executive will be Jean-Christophe Tellier, the firm's current head of Biopharma Brands and Solutions.

Current chief executive Roch Doliveux is to hand over to Tellier in January 2015 after a 10 month transition period.

Doliveux has led UCB for the last 10 years, and has overseen its expansion including the acquisition of UK biotech firm Celltech in 2004, and then Schwarz Pharma in 2006.

Jean-Christophe Tellier will be appointed Chief Executive Officer-Elect as of 1 March 2014, and the UCB board says its smooth succession plan creates the best conditions for future growth.

"In the last 10 years, under Roch Doliveux's leadership, UCB has evolved from a diversified chemical company into a global biopharmaceutical leader", said Gerhard Mayr, Chairman of UCB's Board of Directors. "In that journey UCB has surmounted the patent cliff of its former blockbuster products and successfully launched three new core medicines - Cimzia, Vimpat and Neupro. We have also accelerated our growth in emerging markets and Japan, while continuously enhancing our R&D productivity to build today's promising pipeline."

UCB has three late stage products - romosozumab.in osteoporosis, lupus treatment epratuzumab and epilepsy and epilepsy candidate brivaracetam, all set for filing between 2014 and 2016.

A rheumatologist by training, Jean-Christophe Tellier has been with UCB since 2011, and played a key role in establishing its current strategy.

Roch Doliveux, chief executive of UCB, said "UCB is entering an important new growth era: our rich late-stage pipeline is poised to reach pivotal milestones from the second half of 2014 through mid- 2016" and said Tellier was "the perfect candidate to lead the company through its next phase of evolution."

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