Fusion Antibodies Regulatory News (FAB)

Fusion Antibodies plc

("Fusion" or the "Company")

Block Admission Application, Exercise of Options and Total Voting Rights

Block Admission Application

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces that it has made an application to the London Stock Exchange for the block admission to trading on AIM ("Admission") of 917,083 new ordinary shares of 4p each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") (the "Block Admission"). The Block Admission is being made for any issue and allotment of New Ordinary Shares arising from the exercise of the following options:

· 128,750 historic options granted prior to the Company's admission to trading on AIM and with an exercise price of 4 pence

· 788,333 options granted pursuant to the Company's EMI and Unapproved Employee Share Option Scheme with an exercise price of 54.5 pence.

Upon issue, the New Ordinary Shares will be issued and credited as fully paid and rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of the Company. In accordance with Rule 29 of the AIM Rules for Companies, the number of New Ordinary Shares issued and allotted under the Block Admission arrangement will be announced every six months.

It is expected that the Block Admission will become effective on or around 1 October 2021 (the "Effective Date"). The Company expects to publish its next six-monthly Block Listing Interim Review on or around 1 April 2021.

Exercise of Options

Following the receipt of an option exercise notice by an employee of the Company, 23,334 New Ordinary Shares are being issued pursuant to the Block Admission. The options were granted pursuant to the Company's EMI Employee Share Option Scheme with an exercise price of 54.5p. The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing ordinary shares and Admission is expected to take place on the Effective Date.

Total Voting Rights

As a result of the exercise of options, from Admission the issued share capital of the Company will comprise 25,918,280 ordinary shares of 4 pence each with one voting right per share ("Ordinary Shares"). The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, from Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares and voting rights in the Company will be 25,918,280. From Admission, the above figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

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About Fusion Antibodies plc

Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx TM platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 200 humanisation projects and has an international, blue-chip client base, which has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. The Company's mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation.

Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest technological advances with cutting edge science to deliver new platforms that will enable Pharma and Biotech companies get to the clinic faster, with the optimal drug candidate and ultimately speed up the drug development process. 

The global monoclonal antibody therapeutics market was valued at $135.4 billion in 2018 and is forecast to surpass $212.6 billion in 2022, an increase at a CAGR of 12.0 per cent. for the period 2018 to 2022. In 2017, seven of the world's ten top selling drugs were antibody-based therapeutics with the combined annual sales of these drugs exceeding $63.2 billion.