LONDON, UK, 5 May 2022: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE: ARIX), a global venture capital company focused on investing in breakthrough biotechnology companies, today announces its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Financial highlights

• Net Asset Value of £255.4 million (December 2020: £328.2 million); 198p per share (December 2020: 242p)
• Continued reduction of net operating costs to maintain an annual run rate within 2.0% of NAV
• Gross Portfolio Value (realised and unrealised) of £118.2 million (December 2020: £152 million)
• Cash of £134.2 million (December 2020: £174.4 million)
• £59.2 million of capital deployed into new and existing core portfolio companies

Corporate, strategic and operational progress

• Reconstituted the Board of Directors and split the roles of Chairman and CEO in order to improve corporate governance, following a period of shareholder engagement
• Refocused the investment team with an emphasis on maximising opportunities in both the public and the private markets
• Conducted share buyback programme, purchasing £11.6 million of shares during the period (suspended in October 2021)
• Demonstrated disciplined approach to capital deployment and risk management by ceasing operations at Quench Bio and writing down Atox Bio

Portfolio highlights

• Portfolio companies collectively raised over $776 million, attracting significant investment from new and existing shareholders

• Two portfolio companies, including Aura, completed initial public offerings on Nasdaq, raising approximately $242.8 million collectively

• • Three portfolio companies, completed follow-on public offerings on Nasdaq, raising approximately $180 million collectively
  • Following the reconstitution of the Board, Arix participated in successful private funding rounds for two promising new portfolio companies Disc Medicine and Sorriso Pharmaceuticals, committing £17.8m in total.

• Artios entered into a strategic collaboration with Novartis ($20 million upfront payment) and LogicBio entered into a strategic collaboration with CANbridge Pharmaceuticals ($10 million upfront payment)

• Continued clinical progress across the portfolio during the period with successful data readouts from Aura and Harpoon, and new trial initiations from Artios and Harpoon.

Post-period end

• LogicBio announced that the US Food and Drug Administration had placed its phase 1/2 clinical trial of LB-001 on hold, pending a second drug-related serious adverse event
• Imara announced that as a result of the data generated by the interim analyses of their phase 2b trials for IMR-687, the company would discontinue the Ardent and Forte trials as well as the further development of tovinontrine in sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia.
• In line with our active portfolio management strategy, we divested our remaining holding in Autolus and exited our entire position in Pyxis Oncology

Outlook

We enter a new year with conviction in our portfolio companies as we focus on progress in their clinical programmes, with the potential for multiple value enhancing inflexion points in 2022. Thanks to the success of our exit strategy to date, our continued strong cash position enables us to actively explore a range of new investment prospects. The expansion of the portfolio, and the achievements of our portfolio companies, give us confidence in the future and position us well to take advantage of opportunities to invest in, and unlock value from, what is a truly innovative industry.

“It has been a busy year for Arix. 2021 saw a significant restructuring of the business, reducing costs and repositioning the business to focus on the most promising, later stage investments which we believe will yield strong returns over the medium term. During the year, our portfolio companies continued to achieve important clinical, operational, and financial milestones, from key data announcements to strategic partnerships and IPOs that have secured funding for their future growth. “Whilst we are pleased with the overall clinical progress of the portfolio, the current turbulence in the public markets is discounting the value of listed companies within the biotech sector. While the corresponding reduction in our NAV is disappointing, we still hold conviction in our strategy of investing in promising therapeutic products and platforms that have the potential to address high unmet patient need. We have positioned Arix to take advantage of these prevailing conditions by creating a ‘Public Opportunities Portfolio’ that has seen us deploy capital into high quality, under-valued stocks with significant near-term value generating catalysts. We remain focused on driving value across the portfolio and with clinical data being the main driver of value, we are confident that our diverse portfolio and strategy is well positioned to further validate our model and deliver significant value for shareholders. “We look forward to continuing the close work with our portfolio companies as they move through the clinic and fulfil their potential in delivering transformational treatment to patients and value for our shareholders throughout 2022 and beyond.”

Robert Lyne, CEO of Arix Bioscience

Please use the download links to read the full announcement or visit the Investor Relations section of the website to download a copy of the Annual Report & Accounts.