The annual general meeting in the Company 28 April 2022 approved the share option program and authorised the board of directors of the Company to issue shares to the Company's employees as part of a long-term incentive plan and share option program.

Options granted under the share option program will vest equally over a three-year vesting period following the grant and each option, when exercised, will give the right for each option to acquire one share in the Company at a fixed strike price. Options granted under the share option program expire eight years after grant date.

A total of 2,114,230 share options, equal to 2.38% of total shares issued in the Company, were granted at strike price at NOK 7.59 per option, constituting the volume weighted average share price over the last two weeks before the grant.

The board considers an option program as an important element in attracting and retaining employees to foster long-term success. The board considers the option program terms and allocation to be at the market for comparable peers.

Due to changes in Executive Management over the last two years, this grant is above the average annual grant which has been 1.87% over the last five years. After this grant the total issued options is 4.92% of the total issued shares in the Company, below the average level over the last five years of 5.93%.

Of the total grant the following were granted to primary insiders (total holdings of share options following this grant):

Martin Olin - CEO: 950,000 (950,000)

Rune Skeie - CFO: 100,000 (397,097)

James Barnes - COO: 110,000 (411,522)

Cristina Oliva - CMO: 200,000 (200,000)

Nigel McCracken - CSO: 275,000 (275,000)

In total 1,635,000 share options were granted to primary insiders.

Following this grant a total of 4,358,505 share options are issued, equal to 4.92% of the total shares issued in the Company. Of this, 1,753,726 share options are vested and 2,604,779 not vested.

-End-

Contacts

Martin Olin

CEO, BerGenBio ASA

ir@bergenbio.com

Rune Skeie

CFO, BerGenBio ASA

rune.skeie@bergenbio.com

About BerGenBio ASA

BerGenBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative drugs targeting AXL as a potential cornerstone of therapy for aggressive diseases, including cancer and severe respiratory infections. The Company is focused on its proprietary lead candidate bemcentinib a potentially first-in-class selective AXL inhibitor in development for STK11 mutated NSCLC and COVID-19.

BerGenBio is based in Bergen, Norway with a subsidiary in Oxford, UK. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: BGBIO). For more information, visit www.bergenbio.com

Forward looking statements

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements, which as such are not historical facts, but are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. These assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements. 

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.