Empowering Decisions for Women of Childbearing Age

Important note

Checking the safety profile of our medicines helps us to take the appropriate action to improve the safety of our patients, manage any potential risks associated with the use of the medicine and protect public health.

By reporting the use of our medicines during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding, even if no side effect was experienced, you will help us make sure our medicines are used safely at these special times. Pregnant/breastfeeding women should always consult their HCP before starting any medicines during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding.

If you wish to report a side effect related to the use of one of our products or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding while using one of our products, please talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse, or contact us by using the webform available here.

At UCB, we have made it our mission to close the gaps in research in the care of women of childbearing age with chronic diseases

Thinking about starting or expanding a family should be a time of great excitement. But for women living with chronic diseases, it can be one of great uncertainty. Women should never have to choose between managing their health and starting or expanding their family, but many are confronted with confusing and contradictory communications about possible risks.

Improving the health of both you and your child is possible by managing your disease symptoms before, during, and after pregnancy. Unfortunately, choosing the best treatment while planning for a family is challenging due to insufficient information. Just 5% of available medications have undergone proper monitoring, evaluation, and labelling for their use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

At UCB, our goal is to close the gaps in current research, generating more information to empower you and other women around the world living with chronic diseases like epilepsy or psoriasis to make more informed health decisions.

Discover the real-life stories of the patients: Catherine, Candace and Therese and the physicians’ perspective

Discover Catherine’s story, living with epilepsy, who seeks additional data generation on the newer drugs for epilepsy.

Candace, living with Myasthenia Gravis, shares her difficult journey to find information about pregnancy whilst living with her disease.

Therese, living with Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Dr Nelson-Piercy discuss the significance of a patient-doctor relationship on their pregnancy journey.

_{Discover Dr Perucca’s perspective, who advocates for explicit information about treatment for women of childbearing age, to encourage better informed decision making.}

_{Catherine, living with epilepsy, and Dr Nelson-Piercy talk about the advantages of more data available for patients and healthcare practitioners to ensure informed decision making.}

_{Catherine, living with epilepsy, and Dr Perucca emphasize the urgent need for more data on new drugs to support patients and physicians to make informed decisions.}

_{Candace, living with Myasthenia Gravis, and Dr Nelson-Piercy discuss the importance of patients having a full understanding of the effects a pregnancy may have on their disease to encourage better informed decision making.}

Empower your decisions

The following resources provide further information and guidance for women of childbearing age living with chronic diseases:

Creating value through action

ur studies and pregnancy registries are already generating new data to advance the care of women of childbearing age with chronic diseases.

And, alongside key partners, we are changing the way that broader research is being conducted, including our work with the ConcePTION Consortium (a project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative) and CAMT – Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics (a project jointly launched by the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine) on research specific to pregnant and lactating women.

Our commitment doesn’t stop there. UCB also is a member of the working group within The International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH initiative) to develop a harmonized guideline to enable inclusion of pregnant and breastfeeding individuals in clinical trials. We also participated in the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant and Lactating Women (PRGLAC) run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help identify and address gaps in knowledge regarding safe and effective therapies for pregnant and lactating women.

Additionally, UCB is working with TransCelerate to collaborate on common drug development challenges, such as improving data quality, sharing knowledge and resources, and enhancing medical research practices. The organisation aims to accelerate drug development in a safe, ethical, and cost-effective manner for the benefit of patients.

Read our latest stories

Story

24 May 2023

Clinical Trials Day 2023 - Strategic Approaches in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding: Time for a Paradigm...

Story

7 Mar 2023