Improving Equitable Access to Medicines

Our Half-Year results included progress in our access to medicines indices. They represent the impact we create on people’s lives – because our job is not done until our solutions reach the people in need.

Equitable access means that everyone, no matter their situation, can obtain necessary medications. This includes not just availability, but also affordability and timely delivery. At UCB, we aim to remove barriers to our medicines and ensure our solutions are viable for patients and society. But we also know that what don't measure, doesn't exist. This is why we track our progress in access to medicines through two indices: the Access Coverage Performance Index and the Time to Access Index.

Measuring our progress

The Access Coverage Performance Index looks at how many UCB medicines with marketing authorization have achieved reimbursement that enables patient use, while the Time to Access Index looks at how much earlier positive reimbursement decisions are received compared to typical industry benchmarks in the countries where UCB operates.

Already last year, we've accelerated our access coverage commitments and improved the speed at which new UCB medicines are approved for coverage and reimbursement, leading to faster access for patients. This year, it looks like we already see a very positive trend for both indicators - meaning that more people with severe diseases can access the treatment they need.

This is our contribution to improving people’s lives and supporting the health and wellbeing of the communities where we operate and where our medicines have received positive market authorization.?

There is more to be done…

Nonetheless, the situation is far from being perfect, not for all patients, not everywhere.

At UCB, we are conscious of this and try to play our part. We continuously reassess our initiatives to improve access and implement Managed Access or Patient Support Programs to provide fast-paced access in challenging national pricing and reimbursement scenarios. We build and pilot new business approaches to reach underserved people with epilepsy in low- and middle-income settings – which face a multitude of barriers that hinder equitable access to medicines, including limited healthcare infrastructure, insufficient funding, and restrictive regulatory environments – starting from the U.S., Brazil and selected LMICs. We set diversity targets in some clinical trials and advocate for local policies that could be a barrier for access to better patient care.

But we also know that driving equitable access starts in research & development - this is why we are working to develop a consistent approach across the value chain and equipping ourselves with capabilities and tools necessary to identify the socio-economic determinants of health in specific patient populations, their underlying causes and their effects to create and deliver meaningful solutions.

…together

I am also firmly convinced that everyone in the healthcare sector should play their part and consider the real multiple benefits of a healthier population. Innovation and access should be considered as a value chain where collaboration amongst all stakeholders - policymakers, healthcare providers, patient associations, academia – drive the agenda. Only this way will lead to different, more effective solutions to improve access to medicines for those in need. Only together we can achieve a greater impact.

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