UCB CEO: Crohn's Disease Drug Cimzia May Be Market Leader

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UCB S.A.'s (UCB.BT) Crohn's disease drug Cimzia doesn't just have the potential to become a blockbuster when it's launched next year, but it could also become the leading drug in its market, Chief Executive Roch Doliveux said Friday.

"I see no reason why we shouldn't aim at market leadership," Doliveux said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Prague.

Once it's launched in the first half of next year, Cimzia will compete against Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ)Remicade, currently the only biologic drug approved for Crohn's disease, an inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract.
It will also compete against Humira, a drug codeveloped by Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and Cambridge Antibody Technology Group PLC, (CAT.LN) now part of AstraZeneca PLC (AZN).

Both Humira and Remicade have reached blockbuster status, with annual sales exceeding the $1 billion mark.

"When you have two products whose combined sales are larger than UCB, it's only a matter of when, not if, Cimzia will become a blockbuster," Doliveux said.

UCB has a market capitalization of around EUR6 billion. Last year, its sales totaled EUR2.3 billion.

UCB has transformed itself into a pure biopharmaceutical company through the acquisition of U.K. biotech company Celltech in 2004 for GBP1.5 billion and the divestment of its chemical operations.

The Celltech acquisition brought in Cimzia, which has been filed for regulatory approval with U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which should give its response in the second half of 2006.

The drug is also being studied for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, with phase III results due in the fourth quarter of this year.

Unlike its competitors, Cimzia is administered once monthly.