LifeArc is an independent self-funding charity. This means that we fund our work ourselves without reliance on fundraising or external grants.
Our resources stem from a number of sources, including revenue from service agreements, royalty and milestones, but our core source of income is our investment portfolio, which stood at £1.17 billion as of 31 December 2020. This amount was primarily raised when we monetised a portion of our royalty interests in the cancer medicine Keytruda™ (pembrolizumab) in 2019, generating $1.3bn.
Self-sustaining and self-funded
Our investment approach is designed to provide a financial return so that we can continue to finance our translational support of life science innovation. We expect to use the returns from these investments and to draw down funds as required to finance our 2030 strategy.
At the same time, our 2030 strategy is designed to ensure we remain self-sustaining. We have other sources of income, including an expectation of returns through our early ventures activity. Our early ventures team invests in companies that can deliver both positive impact for patients and provide us with long term financial returns. In this way we can continue to invest in further promising opportunities.
Managing our investment portfolio
Our primary investment objective with our portfolio is to outpace UK annual wage inflation by 3.5% per year, over the long term. The returns on our investment will be used to fund future translational activity.
As long-term investors, we allocate our investments across a diversified portfolio spreading our risk across many asset classes, including global equities, fixed income investments, private markets, infrastructure, real estate and hedge funds.
Find out more
For more information on LifeArc’s investment policy and activities, view our annual reports.