LONDON, 28 March, 2019: Arix Bioscience plc (“Arix”, LSE: ARIX) a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies around cutting edge advances in life sciences, today announces its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2018.

Financial highlights

• £70m net positive revaluation of the portfolio^[1]
• £52m invested across the portfolio and a further £16m post year-end^[2]
• Gross portfolio value increased to £175m (2017: £54m)
• Net Asset Value increased to £270m (2017: £146m)
• £87m capital raise in March 2018
• NAV per share increased to £2.00 (2017: £1.52)

Operational highlights

• Nasdaq listing of four Arix companies^[3]
• Positive portfolio progression; 26 clinical trials underway; 19 expected readouts in 2019^[4]
• $555m capital raised by Arix portfolio companies in 2018
• New commercial partnerships added with Fosun, Ipsen and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Post period end investments:

• Co-led $63m Series B for Imara, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies; committing $15m (£11.3m)
• Harpoon completed a successful IPO on Nasdaq, raising $81m; Arix invested $6m (£4.6m) to retain a stake of 12.1%

[1] Refers to the Gross Portfolio Value

[2] Includes £4.6m into Harpoon IPO, £3.2m into AtoxBio and £7.9m into Imara

[3] Includes Harpoon IPO post year end

[4] Includes Imara added post year end

“We are encouraged by progress in 2018 with a number of positive developments in our business, and a net increase of £70m in the value of our portfolio companies. Overall, we grew our Net Asset Value from £146m at the beginning of 2018 to £270m at year end which, on a per share basis, was an increase of 32% over the year. “This performance is an early sign, I believe, of the potential in our business and the strength of the young portfolio we have built. We are well positioned for further growth and investment in 2019 and look forward to the year ahead with confidence and optimism”.

Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Arix Bioscience plc