UCB's statement on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak
The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has placed tremendous strain on medical healthcare systems worldwide as they focus on the ongoing extraordinary medical emergency. Taking this into consideration UCB has taken measures to protect our patients and colleagues around the world.
As local governments around the world announce increased measures to address the different stages of the COVID-19 crisis, UCB is continuously assessing the best precautionary health and safety measures for our colleagues and their families worldwide while remaining focused on insuring business critical activities for our patients. We have instigated a travel freeze and have asked employees who are able to do so to work from home. We are aware that not all employees can do their work remotely, therefore UCB is taking a high level of health and hygiene precautionary measures at all our site locations. These include increased and frequent cleaning and disinfection of sites, as well as continuing to implement social distance guidelines. We are also providing information to employees on how to stay as safe as possible at work and at home. We have a team in place who are continuously monitoring the situation.
We will be facilitating the volunteering of those medically trained personnel wishing to volunteer to support their local healthcare teams.
We are committed to assuring reliable supply of medicines in every market where we have a commercial presence. Despite the rapid emergence of the novel coronavirus and the challenge presented to healthcare systems around the globe, UCB has not experienced shortages for any of our products due to this epidemic.
Since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, UCB has been closely monitoring our supply chain for potential impact to the supply of our medicines around the world. UCB leverages strategic buffer stock along with multi-sourcing for key materials in our global supply chain to mitigate the impact of supply disruptions due to events such as the current coronavirus outbreak.
Our global manufacturing and distribution network continues to be fully operational and UCB remains in constant contact with our global network of key suppliers, manufacturing partners, and distributors to identify potential risks and take appropriate measures to avoid any disruption. At this time, we do not anticipate any supply disruption of our products. As this global situation evolves, we will continue to take the steps necessary to safeguard the reliable supply of our medicines.
In March 2020, the evolving COVID-19 pandemic led UCB to halt recruitment into ongoing clinical studies and delay all new study starts. This decision was taken in the interest of public health safety and to help reduce the strain on healthcare systems across the world during a time of extraordinary medical emergency. As from mid-May 2020, UCB began to restart clinical study recruitment, including new study starts, at clinical trials sites that meet our restart criteria.
UCB continues to proactively monitor the COVID-19 situation and will take any necessary precautionary steps in the interest of public health. Healthcare professionals and patients with questions related to UCB medicines can contact UCBCares / UCB Medical Information teams across the globe. Contact details can be found here.
We are conscious that the COVID-19 crisis might impact your business during the coming weeks and months. We want to be mindful of this challenging situation. Therefore we are offering the opportunity to our micro and small suppliers in need to request expedited payment of outstanding and forthcoming invoices, to shorten payment terms for new orders and invoices during the duration of the crisis. Conditions to activate UCB’s support can be found here.
