verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message ucb s.a. type soci t anonyme traded as euronext ucb industry pharmaceuticals founded 1928 headquarters brussels belgium key people gerhard mayr chairman jean christophe tellier ceo products biopharmaceuticals revenue billion 2014 1 operating income million 1 profit million 2010 2 number of employees 8 500 end 2014 1 website www.ucb.com ucb union chimique belge is a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in brussels belgium . ucb is an international company with revenues of billion that focuses primarily on r & d specifically involving medications centered on epilepsy parkinson s & crohn s diseases . 3 the company s efforts are focused on treatments for severe diseases treated by specialists particularly in the fields of central nervous system cns disorders including epilepsy inflammatory disorders including allergy and oncology . every 3 years the company presents the ucb award under the patronage of the queen elisabeth medical foundation to promote neuroscience research . the winner of this award is selected by an independent scientific committee . contents 1 history 2 notable drugs developed by ucb 3 corporate governance 4 operations 5 scandals 6 references 7 external links history edit ucb was founded on 18 january 1928 by emmanuel janssen a belgian businessman . initially focused on industrial chemicals it was one of the first companies to distill ammonia from coal the company also included a small pharmaceutical division based around meurice laboratories . in the early 1950s ucb set up a research centre where new medicines such as atarax hydroxyzine were developed . successful sales enabled the pharmaceutical division to expand and led to the discovery of another important compound called piracetam . this was marketed in the 1970s as nootropil and used to treat memory and balance problems . it remains one of ucb s key products . at this time ucb was a company focusing on three core areas pharmaceuticals chemicals and films . the success of nootropil made it possible for ucb to build a modern pharmaceutical site in braine l alleud south of brussels . there ucb developed zyrtec cetirizine a blockbuster antihistamine . other important products have followed including keppra levetiracetam xyzal levocetirizine and cimzia certolizumab pegol which was acquired through the acquisition of celltech . at the end of 2002 the chemicals and films divisions were merged and ucb added the resins additives and adhesives activities of solutia to form the surface specialties division . the films part has since been sold to innovia films in september 2004 . the chemicals division methylamines and derivatives was spun off and later sold to form the company taminco . in may 2004 ucb acquired the british biotechnology company celltech followed in march 2005 by the sale of the surface specialties to cytec industries . by divesting all of its non pharmaceutical activities and acquiring celltech ucb transformed itself into a global biopharmaceutical company . 4 in 2006 ucb started the purchase of the german pharmaceutical company schwarz for billion . 5 as of july 2007 update ucb holds approximately 87 % of schwarz s outstanding shares . the purchase of schwarz enabled ucb to introduce two new drugs against cns disorders neupro rotigotine a transdermal patch for treatment of parkinson s disease and vimpat lacosamide a new anticonvulsant . another new drug of the schwarz portfolio toviaz fesoterodine a compound to treat overactive bladder was licensed to pfizer in 2006 . in 2008 ucb established a multi year collaboration with beryllium a developer of treatments for immune and cns disorders . 6 by 2014 this collaboration had yielded significant scientific breakthroughs which led to ucb acquiring a minority stake in the company . 6 in november 2014 ucb announced its intention to sell of its generics subsidiary kremers urban pharmaceuticals for more than 1.5 billion to two private equity firms . 7 in 2015 ucb announced the sale of its branded generics business in india and south asia to dr. reddy s laboratories for inr 8 billion 128.38 million . 8 9 in september of the same year the company off loaded its generics business to lannett for 1.23 billion . 10 notable drugs developed by ucb edit atarax hydroxyzine nootropil piracetam zyrtec cetirizine an otc antihistamine . keppra levetiracetam an anticonvulsant medication used to treat epilepsy . xyzal levocetirizine a third generation non sedative antihistamine . cimzia certolizumab pegol a monoclonal antibody to tnf for the treatment of crohn s disease and rheumatoid arthritis . neupro rotigotine a transdermal patch for treatment of parkinson s disease . vimpat lacosamide an anticonvulsant . atamet carbidopa levodopa for parkinson s disease corporate governance edit as of 2014 update roch doliveux was ceo of ucb having started in this role in about 2004 . 11 jean christophe tellier an executive vice president with the company will become ceo at the beginning of 2015 . 11 operations edit ucb has operations in over 40 countries and employs more than 7500 people . 12 the united states specialty generics subsidiary was kremers urban pharmaceuticals established in 1904 and based in princeton new jersey . 13 by november 2015 lannett company had acquired kremers for us 1 230 000 000 . 14 scandals edit ucb was fined 10.4 million euros by the eu for its involvement in a vitamin b4 price fixing cartel . 15 16 ucb was fined 34 million dollars in the us for fraud arising from the mispromotion of keppra for migraines despite company research showing it was ineffective for this purpose . 17 most recently ucb has been investigated by chinese authorities for corruption and bribery . 18 references edit a b c http www.ucb.com investors financials key figures http www.ucb.com up ucb com ir documents investor factbook fy2014 % 20 % 20final.pdf http www.ucb.com investors financials heather timmons may 19 2004 . belgian drugmaker seeks to buy celltec . the new york times . ucb s.a. press release of 25 september 2006 ; accessed on 12 september 2008 . a b staff 15 june 2014 . ucb gains noncontrolling interest in beryllium . news industry watch . genetic engineering & biotechnology news paper . p. 8 . http www.genengnews.com gen news highlights ucb sells generics subsidiary for 1 525b 81250569 http www.livemint.com companies zslhr18tat5m1ucxlakian dr reddys to buy select brands from ucb for rs800 crore.html http in.reuters.com article 2015 04 01 ucb sa dr reddys deals idinkbn0ms3hk20150401 http www.fiercepharma.com story ucb hands us generics business lannett 123b 2015 09 03 a b ucb names evp tellier as successor to ceo doliveux . gen news highlights . genetic engineering & biotechnology news . february 20 2014 . http www.ucb.com our company facts company lannett to acquire kremers urban pharmaceuticals for 1.23 billion press release . lannett . 2 september 2015 . house douglas w. 27 november 2015 . lannett completes 1.23 b takeover of kremers urban pharma . seeking alpha . retrieved 29 november 2015 . meller paul 2004 12 08 . europe is expected to fine members of vitamin cartel . the new york times . issn 0362 4331 . retrieved 2015 11 24 . ec fines basf akzo and ucb euro66m in choline chloride cartel crackdown . www.icis.com . retrieved 2015 11 24 . ucb pays 34 million and pleads guilty in epilepsy drug fraud case . prescriptions blog . retrieved 2015 11 24 . china belgian drugmaker ucb targeted in wake of gsk bribery scandal . international business times uk . retrieved 2015 11 24 . external links edit official website presscentre.com companies portal v t e bel20 companies of belgium ackermans & van haaren ageas anheuser busch inbev befimmo sicafi bekaert bpost cofinimmo colruyt group delhaize group delta lloyd d ieteren elia engie gbl kbc groep proximus group solvay telenet group ucb umicore retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ucb company & oldid 744172451 categories bel20 companiesmultinational companies headquartered in belgiumbelgian brandspharmaceutical companies of belgiumpharmaceutical companies established in 19281928 establishments in belgiumhidden categories articles needing additional references from december 2010all articles needing additional referencesarticles containing potentially dated statements from july 2007all articles containing potentially dated statementsarticles containing potentially dated statements from 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools 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