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UCB announces changes on Board of Directors

Brussels (Belgium), January 15, 2021 – 7:00 AM (CET) 

UCB today announces the cooptation of Professor Susan Gasser as new member of UCB's Board of Directors effective as of 1 January 2021. Prof Gasser replaces Professor Alice Dautry who reached the statutory age limit early 2020 and kindly accepted to stay with the Board of UCB until her successor could replace her. The cooptation of Prof Susan Gasser was conducted in accordance with both the statutory rules of UCB and the BCCA (Belgian Code of Companies and Associations). Prof Susan Gasser qualifies as independent Board member and she is also appointed as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Board in replacement of Prof Alice Dautry. The ratification of Susan Gasser’s cooptation and her appointment for a full mandate of 4 years will be proposed at the next Annual General Meeting in April 2021. 

Mrs Evelyn du Monceau, UCB’s Chair of the Board said: “UCB’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee want to express their sincere thanks to Alice Dautry for the pivotal role she has played over the past 5 years. Her role on UCB’s Scientific Committee, deep expertise in cell biology, immunology, receptors and infectious diseases coupled with her dedication has greatly helped the company on its transformation and growth journey.” 

Mr Jean-Christophe Tellier, CEO of UCB said: “I’m delighted to welcome Susan Gasser who brings a wealth of experience in various fields including biophysics, molecular biology and genetics – key to UCB’s future development. Her roles on renowned scientific review panels and international advisory roles make her the perfect candidate to help guide the company for the coming years.”

Prof Susan Gasser is a professor at the University of Basel and holds guest professorships at the University of Lausanne and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. She was the Director of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) from 2004 to 2019, and continued as an FMI research group leader until the end of 2020. On February 1, 2021, she becomes Director of the ISREC Foundation, based in Lausanne, which is dedicated to translational cancer research.  Professor Gasser studied at the University of Chicago and completed her PhD at the University of Basel in the field of biochemistry. She was a professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Geneva from 2001 – 2004. She has authored more than 250 primary articles and reviews and received numerous awards for her work. A full biography can be found on UCB’s corporate website.

UCB’s 2021 Annual General Meeting will be held on April 29, 2021.

For further information     

Corporate Communications
Laurent Schots 
Media Relations, UCB  
T+32.2.559.92.64  Laurent.schots@ucb.com 

Investor Relations
Antje Witte          
Investor Relations, UCB
T +32.2.559.94.14 antje.witte@ucb.com

Isabelle Ghellynck,
Investor Relations, UCB
T+32.2.559.9588, isabelle.ghellynck@ucb.com 

About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With more than 7 500 people operating in ~ 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 4.9 billion in 2019. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news

Forward looking statements – UCB
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements containing the words “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “seeks”, “estimates”, “may”, “will”, “continue” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates and beliefs of management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial information, expected legal, arbitration, political, regulatory or clinical results or practices and other such estimates and results. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of UCB, or industry results, to differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include: changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or to obtain them on acceptable terms or within expected timing, costs associated with research and development, changes in the prospects for products in the pipeline or under development by UCB, effects of future judicial decisions or governmental investigations, safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, product liability claims, challenges to patent protection for products or product candidates, competition from other products including biosimilars, changes in laws or regulations, exchange rate fluctuations, changes or uncertainties in tax laws or the administration of such laws, and hiring and retention of its employees. There is no guarantee that new product candidates will be discovered or identified in the pipeline, or that new indications for existing products will be developed and approved. Movement from concept to commercial product is uncertain; preclinical results do not guarantee safety and efficacy of product candidates in humans. So far, the complexity of the human body cannot be reproduced in computer models, cell culture systems or animal models. The length of the timing to complete clinical trials and to get regulatory approval for product marketing has varied in the past and UCB expects similar unpredictability going forward. Products or potential products which are the subject of partnerships, joint ventures or licensing collaborations may be subject to disputes between the partners or may prove to be not as safe, effective or commercially successful as UCB may have believed at the start of such partnership. UCB’ efforts to acquire other products or companies and to integrate the operations of such acquired companies may not be as successful as UCB may have believed at the moment of acquisition. Also, UCB or others could discover safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with its products and/or devices after they are marketed. The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one of UCB’s products that implicate an entire class of products may have a material adverse effect on sales of the entire class of affected products. Moreover, sales may be impacted by international and domestic trends toward managed care and health care cost containment, including pricing pressure, political and public scrutiny, customer and prescriber patterns or practices, and the reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers as well as legislation affecting biopharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement activities and outcomes. Finally, a breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of UCB’s data and systems. 

Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any of such forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labelling in any market, or at any particular time, nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be or will continue to be commercially successful in the future.
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