Akcea and Ionis Complete Licensing Transaction to Commercialize Inotersen for hATTR - Seite 3

ABOUT AKCEA THERAPEUTICS
Akcea Therapeutics, an affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS), is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing drugs to treat patients with serious and rare diseases. Akcea is advancing a mature pipeline of six novel drugs, including inotersen, volanesorsen, AKCEA-APO(a)-L_Rx, AKCEA-ANGPTL3-L_Rx, AKCEA-APOCIII-L_Rx, and AKCEA-TTR-L_Rx, all with the potential to treat multiple diseases. All six drugs were discovered by and are being co-developed with Ionis, a leader in antisense therapeutics, and are based on Ionis' proprietary antisense technology. Inotersen is under regulatory review in the U.S. and EU for the treatment of hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR). Volanesorsen is under regulatory review in the U.S., EU and Canada for the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome, or FCS, and is currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of familial partial lipodystrophy, or FPL. Akcea is building the infrastructure to commercialize its drugs globally. Akcea is a global company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additional information about Akcea is available at www.akceatx.com.

IONIS' AND AKCEA'S FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the recently announced transaction between Ionis and Akcea, Ionis' and Akcea's business and the therapeutic and commercial potential of inotersen, AKCEA-TTR-L_Rx and other products in development. Any statement describing Ionis' or Akcea's goals, expectations, financial or other projections, intentions or beliefs, including the commercial potential of inotersen, volanesorsen or other of Ionis' or Akcea's drugs in development is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement.  Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such drugs.  Ionis' and Akcea's forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause its results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Although Ionis' and Akcea's forward-looking statements reflect the good faith judgment of its management, these statements are based only on facts and factors currently known by Ionis and Akcea.  As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements.  These and other risks concerning Ionis' and Akcea's programs are described in additional detail in Ionis' and Akcea's annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which are on file with the SEC.  Copies of these and other documents are available from each company.