INTERNATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY TRUST PLC ("IBT")

Biogen agrees to acquire IBT portfolio company Apellis Pharmaceuticals

IBT notes the announcement today that Apellis Pharmaceuticals (Apellis) has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Biogen for approximately $5.6 billion.

Apellis is a global biopharmaceutical company which has two drugs approved, in the immunology and rare disease spaces. The company's Empaveli therapy is FDA-approved for rare immune-mediated kidney diseases and PNH, a rare blood disease. Syfovre, its other approved drug, is approved in geographic atrophy secondary to age related macular degeneration, an immune-mediated retinal disease.

Under the terms of the agreement, Apellis shareholders will receive $41 per share in cash at closing, representing a premium of approximately 140% to the closing share price on 30 March. As at close of business on 30 March, Apellis represented 2.5% of IBT's Net Asset Value, as included in IBT's daily NAV update today.

Commenting on the news, Ailsa Craig and Marek Poszepczynski, portfolio managers of IBT, said:

"M&A activity in the biotech sector is continuing to boom, and this is the third acquisition for IBT's portfolio in March alone. Our success in capturing upside from dealflow is testament to our investment process, which carefully considers the factors that pharmaceutical companies are looking for in potential acquisitions. We believe the period of elevated M&A activity we have seen in recent years will persist for the foreseeable future, and we are positioning IBT's portfolio to take advantage.

With multiple drugs approved, Apellis is part of an increasingly mature cohort of commercial-stage companies in the biotech sector. For pharmaceutical firms looking to replenish their pipelines in the face of patent expiries, these clinically derisked companies are particularly attractive acquisition targets, offering greater certainty around near-term revenues compared to earlier-stage businesses."

The updated valuation of IBT's holding in Apellis will be included in IBT's NAV as at close of business on Tuesday 31 March, to be reported in the usual way on Wednesday 1 April.

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ENDS

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