UCB is committed to being part of the solution to create a more sustainable U.S. healthcare system and advance tomorrow’s care. 

Last year, we launched our U.S. Sustainable Access and Pricing Transparency Report to articulate how we support a competitive, value-based system that provides sustainable, affordable, and equitable access for all patients who need our medicines. This year’s Report provides an update  on our progress to date in building a sustainable system through our own actions and partnering with others across the healthcare system.

Sustainability is core to our business approach. 

We make every decision with an eye to how it affects the people who put their trust in us: the people who rely on our medicines, families and caregivers, health care providers, payers, and the entire healthcare value chain. 

The role of sustainability in our business reinforces our purpose and commitment to deliver moments that matter for people impacted by severe diseases. Our goal is to address their unmet needs through innovating and investing in differentiated solutions.

An important step in this process is making sure people who need our medicines can access them. 

We remain committed to making our medicines as accessible as possible in ways that are sustainable for people impacted by severe diseases, for UCB, and society.

We apply a principled, evidence-based approach when pricing our medicines. 

In 2022, our cross-portfolio net prices declined 3.3%, making this the fifth year in a row our prices have declined. At the same time, our discounts and rebates have increased year-over-year for the past five years. This past year, these discounts reached another new all-time high of 48.9%. 

These discounts should translate to lower cost-sharing and greater affordability for patients, but misaligned incentives in our current healthcare system often mean payers and pharmacy benefit managers do not use these discounts to lower out-of-pocket costs. 

UCB is investing in differentiated solutions beyond medicines to advance a healthier tomorrow.

At UCB, we strive to undertake initiatives to accelerate discoveries, help the value chain work better, and improve the patient journey. 

For instance, our population health teams work with a wide range of stakeholders – healthcare professionals, hospital systems, patients and caregivers, and more – to help address challenges facing large groups. UCB is creating resources across therapeutic areas to improve population health – especially those from historically underserved communities. We cannot achieve a sustainable system without health equity and are addressing social determinants of health that have exacerbated health inequities through initiatives like our population health resources.

We must build a sustainable healthcare system together. 

We need policy solutions that recognize and reward innovation, encourage value-based care, and promote affordable access to medicines for people who need them. 

Unfortunately, policies, like some included in the Inflation Reduction Act, are examples of those falling short on improving affordability and protecting innovation. While the provision redesigning the Medicare Part D benefit is a positive step toward lower out-of-pocket costs for patients, other provisions fail to improve affordability or protect innovation. It is critically important not to diminish advancements in medical innovation, nor the tangible contribution U.S. biomedical innovation makes on both national and global public health. We continue to support policies that ensure affordable and sustainable access for patients and put the patient at the center of decision-making all the way from the discovery phase to when a medicine is available for patients. A sustainable healthcare system is one that supports the discovery and development of new medicines from UCB and the rest of the pharmaceutical industry for patient populations of any size. 

Just as we are unwavering in our purpose, so we are also unwavering in our commitment to building a sustainable healthcare system to continue delivering these moments that matter.