Next to the objective of creating a financial return for investors, the Fund also promotes a social characteristic and is therefore classified under article 8 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The main focus of the Fund’s investments is on researching, developing, or producing treatment/solutions for diseases with a high unmet medical need. A high unmet medical need is defined as diseases that are characterized by an (inadequacy of) available treatments, which severely impact the patient and the healthcare system, prevalent in the geographies the company currently markets or plans to market or distribute its current or future product(s).
The Fund aims to construct a portfolio of approximately twenty investee companies that contribute to the social characteristic, and of which a minimum proportion of 30 percent (of the invested capital of the Fund) are considered sustainable investment. Invested capital consists of the Fund’s assets, excluding cash.
Next to establishing which sustainability risks are considered material for each investee company based on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Fund also analyses the investee companies’ preparedness to these sustainability risks as part of its due diligence process. The Fund takes the Principal Adverse Impact (PAI) indicators into account to determine if an investment can be considered sustainable. It investigates the processes and policies of any potential investment on environmental and social risks in the biotechnology sector as defined by the SASB and by the PAI indicators.
Monitoring of investee companies regarding their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance takes place monthly based on sustainability risks, investment allocation towards the social characteristic and the proportion of the investments determined as sustainable.
The Fund engages with investee companies to improve their ESG performance. Engagement can consist of meetings with management, data requests to investor relations to improve the policies and practices, or formal shareholder voting when considered necessary.
The Fund reports on a monthly and quarterly basis with updates on the financial returns. The Fund publishes an annual PAI report highlighting the engagement activities as well as any changes in policies and practices of the investee companies.
