U.S. Public Policy Inspired by Patients

UCB is committed to the development of transformative solutions that treat, modify, or cure immunologic, neurologic, and rare diseases for people living with unmet medical needs, regardless of social, economic, cultural or geographic status. Therefore, we support policies that:

• Ensure the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) remains true to its mission¹ of protecting patient safety and the security of the drug supply chain;
• Incorporate diverse patient voices into treatment development and regulatory decision-making;
• Protect incentives to innovate in areas of unmet need, particularly for rare diseases;
• Provide FDA with tools necessary to ensure harmonization in engagement with U.S. and foreign manufacturers in drug review and manufacturing inspections;
• Support patient-preferred, innovative clinical trial designs that are inclusive of patients from diverse social, economic, cultural, and geographic backgrounds, particularly those that are underserved;
• Accelerate innovation through incentives for continued investment and the use of real-world evidence (RWE)² as a supplement to randomized clinical trials (RCT) in regulatory decision-making; 
• Increase the ability of payers to partner with innovators earlier in the drug development process; and
• Advance meaningful protections for innovator intellectual property.

UCB is committed to delivering value-based care for patients, the health system, and society through policy approaches that:

• Remove policy barriers to collaboration among diverse patient groups, payers, providers, caregivers, and policymakers in developing value- and outcomes-based payment models and incentivize high-value care;
• Enable greater transparency in the system to improve the visibility of products’ value and how is that value being delivered to patients;
• Support informed, shared healthcare decision-making between patients and physicians;
• Promote an environment that rewards value and sustains continued medical innovation;
• Incorporate both diverse patient voices and RWE into healthcare quality measures and value assessments; and
• Foster a value assessment environment that recognizes multiple frameworks aligned with broad principles that support sustainable value and equitable access to healthcare beginning in the drug development stages.

UCB is committed to promoting affordable and equitable access to care for all patients through multi-stakeholder policy approaches that::

• Ensure patients across society have access to a range of health plan options that meet their individual needs and offer robust protections, such as transparent, reliable formularies and affordable out-of-pocket costs;
• Remove impediments to providers’ ability to prescribe the most appropriate therapy to patients, including step-edits and restrictive formularies, while also reducing patient out-of-pocket expenses; and
• Permit financial assistance for patients who cannot afford needed medicines, including those from historically underserved communities. Shape the healthcare system to promote unbiased structures and processes to advance equitable access to quality healthcare for all patients, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, or socio-economic circumstance by elevating the patient voice and reframing conversations to prioritize patients over managing potential financial impact to the healthcare system. 

UCB launched our Voices on Value series in recognition of the need to have a critical conversation on value and how we better account for value so patients have affordable access at the pharmacy counter. We will be welcoming a diverse set of stakeholders discussing their views on value and how we create a better healthcare system. We will be covering topics such as value-based contracts, value-based assessment, sustainability, health equity and disparities, transparency, and more.