Every three years, the company presents the UCB Award under the patronage of the Queen Elisabeth Medical Foundation to promote neuroscience research.
Successful sales enabled the pharmaceutical division to expand, and led to the discovery of another important compound, called piracetam.
Other important products have followed, including Keppra (levetiracetam), Xyzal (levocetirizine), and Cimzia (certolizumab pegol), which arrived through the acquisition of Celltech.
In May 2004, UCB acquired the British biotechnology company Celltech, followed in March 2005 by the sale of the surface specialties to Cytec Industries.
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), an anticonvulsant.
[5] 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).
[14] The United States specialty generics subsidiary was Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals, established in 1904 and based in Princeton, New Jersey.
[17][18] In 2011, UCB was fined $34 million in the US for fraud arising from the mispromotion of Keppra for migraines, despite company research showing it was ineffective for this purpose.