BB BIOTECH: Positive development thanks to Genentech and Vertex
participations
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Corporate news announcement processed and transmitted by Hugin AS.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Interim Report as at June 30, 2009During 1H 2009, BB BIOTECH's share price appreciated by 4.2% (in CHF,including dividend), while BB BIOTECH's Net Asset Value (NAV) is flatsince the beginning of the year. BB BIOTECH's performance during 1H2009 was in line with the performance of the financial markets duringthis time period. Although it was not possible in the first sixmonths of 2009 to achieve additional gains for our shareholders, BBBIOTECH's superior performance since its foundation has beenpreserved.During 1H 2009, significant acquisitions of biotech companies bypharma took place, reducing the total market capitalization of theBiotech industry to approximately USD 300 bn. With biotech holdingsworth CHF 1.448 bn, BB BIOTECH remains one of the leading investorsin the industry. On the negative side, BB BIOTECH's share pricecontinued to trade below the Net Asset Value of the company. Wecontinue to use various measures of keeping the share price of BBBIOTECH close to its Net Asset Value. At BB BIOTECH's extraordinarygeneral meeting on July 6, 2009, it was decided to initiate anothershare buyback program of up to 1.8225 mn shares, for the benefit ofour shareholders and to close the discount of BB BIOTECH's shareprice to its Net Asset Value. We expect the share buyback program tocommence at the end of 3Q 2009.In March 2009, the acquisition of the minority stake of Genentech byRoche was completed. The transaction was historical in many ways andmarked the end of BB BIOTECH's successful investment in Genentech.Within our core holdings, Vertex appreciated by 18%, driven by anincreasing amount of clinical data for its lead product Telaprevirfor treatment of Hepatitis C. We expect Telaprevir to become one ofthe outstanding successes of biotech in the coming years. Anothercore holding, Celgene, experienced a 14% decline in its share price.The decline was due to a lower than expected growth rate during thefirst quarter of 2009. For the balance of the year, we expectadditional data from Celgene's core product Revlimid for use as afront-line agent for treatment of Multiple Myeloma to boost Revlimidsales significantly.Our other core holdings Actelion and Gilead continued to deliverstrong performance based on strong product sales. On the negativeside, one of our small positions, The Medicines Company, suffered asignificant setback when an important pipeline project failed to showefficacy in phase III trials. As we had reduced the positionsubstantially ahead of that event, our very significant profit on ourlong-term investment in The Medicines Company was only slightlyreduced.During the first half of 2009, BB BIOTECH invested in Novo Nordisk,the world market leader in the area of diabetes. Novo Nordisk iscurrently launching Victoza in Europe (Liraglutide), which we valueas being the best drug in an emerging class of drugs called GLP-1analogues. We expect Victoza to become a leading drug for treatmentof diabetes. Regarding the most recent safety issues concerninginsulin-related drugs from one of Novo Nordisk's competitors, wedon't expect Novo Nordisk to face the same issues with its productsand we expect Novo Nordisk to be able to continue its long-termgrowth. In addition, we started an investment in Clinuvel, anAustralian based company which is developing a drug for the therapyof rare diseases of patients who cannot tolerate sunlight.We added to our positions in Zymogenetics and Arena because a declineof the share prices of these companies offered compellingopportunities. We opportunistically reduced some of our core holdingsfor portfolio reasons, in order to raise cash.The ongoing economic crisis will trigger some changes in thehealthcare systems of developed countries. We are monitoring thesedevelopments closely and include the most likely scenarios in ourinvestment strategy. We are very confident that the value ofinnovative and powerful new drugs will not be minimized by upcomingchanges and we expect our portfolio companies to continue to be thelong-term winners.For the balance of the year we expect significant positive news flowfrom some of our core holdings, including Actelion, Celgene andVertex. Due to a very significant decline in the valuation of manysmall cap and private biotech companies, we see unprecedentedopportunities to acquire significant stakes in promising companies atvery reasonable valuations. We are working diligently to exploitthese opportunities.This is the composition of BB BIOTECH's Portfolio as at June 30, 2009(in % of securities, rounded values):CORE HOLDINGSActelion 31.2%Gilead 21.1%Celgene 15.6%Vertex Pharmaceuticals 12.8%SMALL PARTICIPATIONSNovo Nordisk 4.1%Biogen Idec 2.5%Zymogenetics 2.1%Arena Pharmaceuticals 1.8%Roche Holding 1.8%Basilea Pharmaceutica 1.1%Optimer Pharmaceuticals 1.1%NicOx 0.9%Affymetrix 0.9%Elan 0.7%Epigenomics 0.3%The Medicines Company 0.2%Incyte 0.2%BioXell 0.2%Rigel Pharmaceuticals 0.2%Keryx Biopharmaceuticals 0.1%Clinuvel 0.1%3% Convertible Bond Deutsche Bank (-18.05.2012)* 0.2%Actelion put option (short) <(0.1%)Biogen Idec call option (short) <(0.1%)Basilea put option (short) <(0.1%)Basilea call option (short) <(0.1%)USD/CHF put option (long) 1.0%USD/CHF call option (short) (0.1%)SWAP agreement on treasury shares <0.1%Total securities CHF 1 448.8 mnLiquid funds (net) CHF 24.3 mnOther assets CHF 28.6 mnOther payables CHF (3.6) mnTotal shareholder's equity CHF 1 498.1 mnTreasury shares (in % of company) 8.7%* Convertible into registered shares BB BIOTECH AGThe Interim Report as at June 30, 2009 is available onwww.bbbiotech.comFor further information please contact:Bellevue Asset Management AG, Seestrasse 16, CH-8700 Kusnacht,SwitzerlandNafida Bendali or Maria-Grazia Alderuccio, Tel. +41 44 267 67 00Company profile:BB BIOTECH acquires holdings in companies in the biotechnology growthmarket and is currently one of the world's largest investors in thesector. BB BIOTECH is listed in Switzerland, in Germany and in Italy.The focus of the holdings is on quoted companies that areconcentrating on the development and marketing of innovativemedicines. For the selection of holdings, BB BIOTECH relies onfundamental analysis by physicians and molecular biologists. TheBoard of Directors has many years of industrial and scientificexperience.http://hugin.info/130285/R/1331523/315073.pdf --- End of Message ---BB BIOTECH AGVordergasse 3 Schaffhausen SwitzerlandWKN: AONFN3; ISIN: CH0038389992; Index: SBIOM, IGSP, SLIFE;Listed: Investment Companies in SIX Swiss Exchange;
Datum: 30.07.2009 - 07:30 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
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