Fiona du Monceau will play a key role in drug development at UCB

Fiona du Monceau, a member of the founding family, will be responsible for the late-stage clinical development of new medicines at the Brussels pharmaceutical company UCB.

Mid last month it was announced that Fiona du Monceau, a member of the founding family behind the listed Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB

would take on an operational role and retire as Vice-Chairman.

We had to wait a while for the precise details, but today UCB provides more clarity about its range of tasks.

Du Monceau will be given the title of ‘Executive Vice President of Patient Evidence’. A mouthful, but in concrete terms she will be responsible for the late clinical development of the pharmaceutical company’s new medicines, a key position.

Du Monceau, who has more than twenty years of domestic and international experience in the sector, will also oversee the positioning of the brands and strategy and, among other things, the interaction with government regulators and patient organizations.

Business is in Du Monceau’s blood. Her maternal great-grandfather, Emmanuel Janssen, was UCB’s first CEO. Her great-grandmother Paule Van Parys was a granddaughter of Ernest Solvay, the founder of the chemical giant of the same name in 1863. Her great-great-grandfather on her father’s side was the founder of the Au Bon Marché department store, which later became the GB supermarket chain. Her father was also active in that group (GIB).

The early forties, who studied management at Solvay Business School and obtained an MBA from Harvard (US), started her career at the consultant McKinsey, where she worked from New Jersey for European and American healthcare clients.

Afterwards she worked for the American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly for more than seven years. In 2014, Du Monceau started working at UCB, where she fulfilled various roles. She worked at UCB Ventures, the pharmaceutical company’s venture capital group, among others.

This is how Du Monceau came into contact with the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). Based on VIB research, in June 2020 she supported the Ghent biotech company ExeVir, a start-up that was working on a corona drug based on antibodies in llamas.

‘I like the mentality. “Getting things done is fun,” said Du Monceau about her choice of a start-up and her love for exciting biotech. ‘As a teenager I was already fascinated by infectious diseases. That interest has remained. I dreamed of traveling to Africa and finding the origins of Ebola.”

At the beginning of September, Du Monceau resigned from her duties as financial and operational director at ExeVir after three years.

After wanderings in the United States and the United Kingdom, globetrotter Du Monceau, who is married and has four children, has been living in Belgium again for a few years.

UCB announced the news about Fiona du Monceau’s duties in a communiqué in the run-up to the general shareholders’ meeting, which will take place on Thursday.

There are also a few shifts in management. Emmanuel Caeymaex, currently executive vice president and head of immunology, will become chief commercial officer. In this new role he will be responsible for all commercial activities.

The chief scientific officer, Dhavalkumar Patel, will retire at the end of June after seven years and will be succeeded by Alistair Henry, currently responsible for research in the UK.