Solide performance over de breedte van de portfolio. Dankzij een goede netto performance van +13,2% sinds de NAV van midden juni, eindigde de netto performance van het fonds voor juni op +8,8%.

Goede klinische studie data voor portfoliobedrijven. Genetics technologieën worden steeds breder toegepast in de ontwikkeling van geneesmiddelen. Waren het in het begin nog met name (aangeboren) genetische aandoeningen waarin onderzoek verricht werd met gen- of RNA-therapie, inmiddels is de toepassing heel breed.

Aescap Genetics heeft op het moment van schrijven 71% van het vermogen belegd in 18 ondernemingen.

De NAV van het fonds daalde in de eerste helft van maart 6,8% en steeg vervolgens in de tweede helft met 10,8%. Het lijkt erop dat het sentiment voor biotech aandelen op zijn minst gestabiliseerd is. Het eerste kwartaal was een goede periode om nieuwe ondernemingen in de portfolio op te nemen.

The Year in Review and What is Coming Up.
Looking back at 2021 we saw sharp declining biotech share prices as of mid-February 2021 around the so-called ‘Turn out of Tech’.

Portfolio company Dicerna Pharmaceuticals announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with pharma company Novo Nordisk under which Novo Nordisk will acquire Dicerna for $ 38,25 per share and a total equity value of $ 3,3 billion, representing an 80% premium compared to Dicerna’s share price at closing on Nov 17, 2021.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the only two options doctors had available to treat cancer were surgery and/or radiation therapy. At that time, cancers that couldn’t be removed or irradiated, because of their position or because they involved blood cells, were deemed untreatable.

Since its inception, Aescap has taken environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into consideration by analyzing sustainability impact of its portfolio companies and potential new investments. By continuously doing so, Aescap aims to encourage companies in our sector to act with the well-being of people and our planet in mind. The fund focuses its investments in companies developing treatments that are aimed to significantly improve the life of patients and benefit society as a whole.

Innovation in the medical field has strongly accelerated in the last century and we see it continuing at an even higher pace going forward. In this technology showcase we will highlight one of the most advanced of such technologies, RNA therapeutics. We will describe the rationale behind this technology, as well as its strength and weaknesses compared to traditional medicines and other novel approaches.