BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

UCB's transformation

May 24, 2004 7:00 AM UTC

Growth at Belgium's UCB Group has been lackluster, with neither its pharmaceutical nor specialty chemical/films groups contributing much upside. Last September, the company brought in Roch Doliveux from Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) to breathe new life into the company. He made his first big move last week with the proposed acquisition of Celltech Group plc.

If everything works out, the purchase will be the first step in transforming a typical small European pharma company into a top tier biopharmaceutical player, with virtually flat growth over the last two years accelerating to double digits, a diversified product portfolio including both small molecules and biologics, and expanded marketing, manufacturing and R&D capabilities. ...