Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB SA (UCB.BT) Wednesday said it will test its flagship rheumatoid arthritis drug Cimzia in a head-to-head clinical trial against Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT) anti-inflammatory drug Humira.
UCB hopes the trial will reflect well on Cimzia, which had sales last year of EUR198 million (about $280 million) and is one of three core products on which the Belgium-based drug maker is betting to boost sales, offsetting the loss of patents on older blockbusters.
“We believe the study will provide additional evidence that the ability to make an informed and early treatment decision is important for the treatment of this severe and progressing disease,” UCB’s chief medical officer Iris Loew-Friedrich said in a statement.
