BenevolentAI Unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2023

BenevolentAI (Euronext Amsterdam: BAI), a leader in applying advanced AI to accelerate biopharma drug discovery, today announces its unaudited preliminary results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2023.

Dr. Joerg Moeller, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BenevolentAI, said:

“I am delighted to present my inaugural set of financial results as the CEO of BenevolentAI. We have made significant operational progress despite a challenging first half of 2023. Particularly noteworthy achievements include the signing of a significant collaboration with Merck, the completion of pre-clinical development of our glioblastoma multiforme asset, and also the initiation, and near completion, of a Phase Ia study of our lead asset in ulcerative colitis. During the year, we also invested to further enhance the Benevolent Platform™ and will continue to leverage it to deliver on our patient-centric revenue generation strategy.

“Our mission is focused on bringing life-changing medicines to patients and during my brief tenure at BenevolentAI I have been inspired by our team's talent and commitment to realise this. I look forward to working closely with them, and our partners, to make a lasting impact on the lives of patients worldwide."

Operational highlights: Signed major deal with Pharma partner and progressed own pipeline assets

• New strategic collaboration signed with Merck KGaA. The agreement includes payments to BenevolentAI of up to $594 million to deliver novel drug candidates against, initially, three targets in oncology, neurology and immunology. In addition to a low double-digit million-dollar upfront payment, BenevolentAI could potentially receive payments on development and commercial milestones as well as tiered royalties on net sales.
• Lead asset for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) progressed into the clinic. As expected, during the year, the Company initiated a Phase Ia clinical study for BEN-8744, an oral phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10) inhibitor, with topline data readout expected Q1 2024.
• Successfully progressed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) asset to IND-ready status. BEN-28010 is an oral brain-penetrant CHK1 inhibitor for the treatment of GBM and metastatic brain tumours which completed regulatory IND-enabling studies during the year to plan.
• IND-enabling studies ongoing for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) asset. BEN-34172 is an oral, potent and selective brain-penetrant RARɑβ (retinoic acid receptor alpha beta) selective agonist. Drug substance manufacturing scale-up was completed during the period and is expected to be IND ready by mid-2024.
• No further investment in BEN-2293 for atopic dermatitis (AD). As announced in May, the Company confirmed there will be no further investment in BEN-2293 following its Phase IIa study results in AD earlier in the year, where the safety and tolerability primary endpoints were successfully met but the efficacy secondary endpoints were not.
• Completed strategic review. During the period, the Company completed a strategic review of operations to focus the business on its drug discovery collaborations and five high potential assets in its proprietary pipeline as well as exploring a new expansion opportunity in Knowledge Exploration tools.
• Knowledge Exploration tools assessment nearing completion. During the year initial product development was substantially completed alongside user testing. Current market assessment is underway with results expected in early Q2 2024 and will determine if or how this opportunity fits into the wider commercial strategy for the Company.
• Further enhancement and investment in the Benevolent Platform^TM in key areas. Work continues to expand the capabilities, offerings and prediction methodology of the platform to further assist both our collaboration partners and our own internal drug programmes.

Corporate highlights (including post period): Continued to strengthen the Board and Leadership team

• Appointed accomplished R&D leader, Dr. Joerg Moeller as CEO and Executive Director, post period, in January 2024. Following the resignation of Joanna Shields as CEO and Executive Director in September 2023, Dr. François Nader, Chair of the Board, temporarily assumed the additional role of Acting CEO from September 2023 until January 2024.
• Significant appointments to the Leadership team. In September, the Company appointed Catherine Isted as Chief Financial Officer and Christina Busmalis as Chief Revenue Officer.
• Further strengthening of the Board. Marcello Damiani was also appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director during the year.

2023 financial highlights

• Revenue decreased to £7.3 million (2022: £10.6 million) primarily reflecting decreased revenues from the AstraZeneca collaboration partly offset by the new Merck collaboration.
• Normalised¹ research and development (“R&D”) spend, excluding share-based payments (“SBP”), of £56.5 million (2022: £65.1 million); reported R&D spend excluding SBP of £60.3 million (2022: £65.1 million).
• Normalised¹ operating loss of £72.7 million (2022: £94.6 million).
• Reported operating loss of £77.6 million (2022: £197.0 million).
• Cash, cash equivalents and short-term deposits position of £72.9 million at 31 December 2023 (31 December 2022: £130.2 million), compared with £84.3 million at 30 June 2023.
• Operating cash outflow before changes to working capital of £54.6 million (2022: £67.8 million).
• Post the strategic review, cash burn reduced by around 40% compared to pre-restructuring forecasts with the Cash runway extended to at least mid-2025.

¹Normalised operating loss for the years ended 31 December 2023 and 31 December 2022 is defined as operating loss excluding non-normalised transactions, defined as those related to the restructuring programme undertaken following the strategic plan announced on 25 May 2023; those related to the Transaction; the revaluation of investments which BAI does not control directly; and the revaluation of the warrants recognised as finance income. See note 2.4 under “UNAUDITED NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION” for more information.
²Including employee-related SBP expenses

Analyst and Investor briefing

Management will host an analyst briefing at 13.00 GMT/08.00 ET this afternoon, 14 March 2024, at the offices of FTI Consulting (200 Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HD, United Kingdom). To register your interest in attending either in person or virtually, analysts should contact FTI Consulting at BenevolentAI@fticonsulting.com.

A recording of the webcast will be made available in the investor section of the Company’s website shortly afterwards.

Enquiries:

Investors:
Fleur Wood – VP Investor Relations
fleur.wood@benevolent.ai
investors@benevolent.ai
T: +44(0) 203 781 9360

Media:
Rachel Gurney
press@benevolent.ai
T: +44(0) 203 781 9360

FTI Consulting:
Ben Atwell/Simon Conway/Victoria Foster Mitchell
T: +44 203 727 1000
BenevolentAI@fticonsulting.com

About BenevolentAI

At BenevolentAI (AMS: BAI), we serve patients by leveraging our proprietary and validated Benevolent Platform^TM that integrates AI and science to uncover new biology, predict novel targets and develop first-in-class or best-in-class drugs for complex diseases. By applying proprietary advanced AI tools, in combination with in-house scientific expertise and wet-lab facilities, BenevolentAI is well-positioned to identify and accelerate novel drug discovery. The Company’s business model presents multiple routes for value creation including discovery collaborations with pharma companies like AstraZeneca and Merck, advancing in-house pipelines to inflection points, and commercialising a suite of knowledge exploration tools. Headquartered in London, with wet labs in Cambridge (UK) and an office in New York, BenevolentAI is at the forefront of reshaping the future of drug discovery and delivering innovative medicines.

Forward-looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "plans", "targets", "aims", "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "will", "may", "should" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding objectives, goals, strategies, outlook and growth prospects; future plans, events or performance and potential for future growth; economic outlook and industry trends; developments in BenevolentAI’s markets; the impact of regulatory initiatives; and/or the strength of BenevolentAI’s competitors. These forward-looking statements reflect, at the time made, BenevolentAI’s beliefs, intentions and current targets/aims. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions based on, without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in BenevolentAI’s records, and third-party data. Although BenevolentAI believes these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond BenevolentAI’s control. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause the actual outcomes and the results of operations, financial condition and liquidity of BenevolentAI or the industry to differ materially from those results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. No representation or warranty is made that any of these forward- looking statements or forecasts will come to pass or that any forecast result will be achieved.

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