AGM Statement

Intl. Biotechnology Trust PLC
22 December 2000


For immediate release 7.00am 22 December 2000


                    INTERNATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY TRUST PLC


                           ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING


At today's Annual General Meeting of International Biotechnology Trust, the
Chairman of the Company, John Green-Armytage, will make the following
statement:

'The last few months have represented a period of change for your Company but
this should not disguise our very strong performance in the 1999/2000
financial year when we recorded a 382.2 per cent rise in the diluted net asset
value per share and an exceptional 484.8 per cent rise in share price. These
figures demonstrate the strong value which has been created for shareholders
and should not be overlooked.

Despite this performance, a small number of material shareholders sought
change to your Company this summer, in particular seeking a return of part of
their investment in the Company. Your Board has responded to this by
circulating shareholders with proposals to buy back up to 50 per cent of the
issued equity of the Company, through a Tender Offer.

These proposals require approval by shareholders, at an Extraordinary General
Meeting to take place on 10 January, and your Board has recommended that
shareholders support the requisite resolution to enable the Tender Offer to be
ratified. The Board has given no recommendation on whether shareholders should
accept the Tender Offer in respect of their individual shareholdings.

I should like to remind shareholders, however, of the investment policy of the
Company. Since our inception, this has been to focus on emerging bioscience
companies which have a need for finance to fund their development, which can
benefit from operational or strategic support to accelerate their progress,
and which have the potential to deliver substantial appreciation in value.

This very much remains our policy and your Board believe that the significant
advances being made in the Life Sciences sector internationally will continue
to provide excellent opportunities for investment.

To this end, your Board, after an extensive review by the Board, in
conjunction with the Company's advisers, appointed Schroder Ventures Life
Sciences as investment adviser to the Company in November. The Board believes
that Schroder Ventures Life Sciences has the relevant qualifications to
provide superior investment advice and deal execution for both quoted and
unquoted securities on behalf of our fund and thus to deliver the investment
policy of your Company. It has been a leader in bringing private life sciences
companies to a regulated stock exchange and has both a presence in the US and
wide experience in the US biotechnology sector where we believe significant
opportunities lie.

Finally, in parallel with the changes which have occurred or are underway,
many members of your Board, all of whom were appointed when the Company was
launched in 1994, now believe it is time to step aside to make way for a new
Board. Gary Brass and James Grant are not putting themselves forward for
re-election to the Board today, while it is my own intention, together with
Don Cecil and Dennis Turner, to step down following the EGM, subject to the
passing of the resolutions before shareholders at that meeting. I should like,
on behalf of shareholders, to express thanks to my colleagues who are retiring
from the Board for their contributions to the successful development of the
Company over more than six years.

It is the Board's intention to invite Andrew Barker to join the Board after
the EGM and to invite him to become Chairman of your Company. Mr Barker has
been involved in investment management for more than 30 years, most notably at
Foreign and Colonial Management from which he retired earlier this year. He is
admirably qualified to provide leadership to your Company in the next phase of
its development. We also plan to appoint three further new directors to the
Board following the AGM.

I am very confident that the new International Biotechnology Trust is
extensively qualified to pursue successfully the investment policy of your
Company in what remains a very exciting international sector.'


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