UCB enters into partnership with AstraZeneca

UCB has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the joint commercialisation of the former company’s PEGylated anti-TNF alpha drug Cimzia (certolizumab pegol).

The product will be registered for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease in Brazil by AstraZeneca, which will also gain the exclusive distribution rights for the country.

As well as this, the firm will also have the right, alongside UCB, to distribute new variations of the drug in future as the two work together to expand their presence in the market.

“AstraZeneca has been one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in the country and Cimzia will complement our current portfolio of innovative medicines and support our continued growth in this important market,” explained Rubens Pedrosa, president and representative director of AstraZeneca in Brazil.

In other UCB news, the firm announced last month that a clinical trial comparing its systemic lupus erythematosus to a placebo treatment found that by week 12, the treatment advantage of the former therapy reached 24.9 per cent.