To seek long-term investment growth, through growth of capital. The Fund mainly invests in equities of biotechnology companies and discovery research firms of any market capitalisation. This may include companies involved with genomics, genetic engineering and  gene therapy as well as companies involved in the application and development of biotechnology in areas such as health care, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. These investments may be from anywhere in the world, although the Fund may invest significantly in the US.

The Fund promotes environmental and social characteristics in accordance with Article 8 of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (the “SFDR”) and aims to invest in companies with positive environmental, social, governance (“ESG”) results. 

In its implementation of the Fund’s ESG strategy, the Investment Manager favours issuers with a high-quality and/or an improving ESG profile, as captured by its proprietary ESG methodology. In addition, the Fund applies specific ESG exclusions. 

The Fund’s environmental or social characteristics are assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively, by means of sustainability indicators as well as of the Investment Manager’s proprietary ESG methodology and its research and engagement process further described in the Website disclosure’s dedicated sections. As part of its investment decision making process, the Fund’s ESG strategy also uses binding criteria for the selection of underlying assets. 

Finally, the Fund has a minimum allocation of 10% of its portfolio to sustainable investments. The Fund ensures that its sustainable investments do not cause significant harm to any environmental or social sustainable investment objective.

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• Seeking capital appreciation by investing in equity securities.
• Seeking a growth investment in the biotechnology sector in the U.S. and around the world.
• Planning to hold their investment for the medium to long term.

The value of shares in the Fund and income received from it can go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Performance may also be affected by currency fluctuations. Currency fluctuations may affect the value of overseas investments.

• The Fund invests mainly in equity securities of biotechnology companies. Such securities have historically been subject to significant price movements that may occur suddenly due to market, sector or company-specific factors. As a result, the performance of the Fund can fluctuate significantly over relatively short time periods.
• Other significant risks include:
  Liquidity risk: the risk that arises when adverse market conditions affect the ability to sell assets when necessary. Such risk may be triggered by (but not limited to) unexpected events such as environmental disasters or pandemics. Reduced liquidity may have a negative impact on the price of the assets.
  Equity risk: prices of equities may be affected by factors such as economic, political, market, and issuer-specific changes. Such changes may adversely affect the value of the equities regardless of company-specific performance.
  Securities Lending risk: the risk that default or insolvency of the borrower of securities lent by a Fund may lead to losses if collateral received realises less than the values of securities lent.

For full details of all of the risks applicable to this Fund, please refer to the “Risk Considerations” section of the Fund in the current prospectus of Franklin Templeton Investment Funds.