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<p><strong>Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. This information and other information about the Funds can be found in the prospectus and summary prospectus. For a prospectus and summary prospectus, please visit our website at <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.bailliegifford.com/usmutualfunds" target="_blank" title="US mutual funds">bailliegifford.com/usmutualfunds</a> Please carefully read the Fund's prospectus and related documents before investing. Securities are offered through Baillie Gifford Funds Services LLC, an affiliate of Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd and a member of FINRA.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Tell us about the company.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Richie Vernon:</strong> Imagine a drug that can navigate through the body and into your cells, selectively switching off the faulty, disease-causing parts of your gene, like a light switch. These revolutionary drugs aren’t science fiction. They’re transforming patients’ lives today, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is the pioneer of this new drug class.</p>
<p>The company was founded in 2002 by a group of leading scientists who based their work on the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of RNA interference, or RNAi. Over the last two decades, they turned this scientific breakthrough into safe and effective medications.</p>
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<p><strong>What makes this stock special?</strong></p>
<p>Taking a drug from the initial discovery stage to approval for use in patients is the business equivalent of a well-funded expedition to walk over a thin layer of ice covering the world's largest lake. It’s long, it’s expensive, and it's rarely achieved.</p>
<p>The value of Alnylam’s RNAi technology is that it makes this task more repeatable than traditional drugs. After success with one RNAi drug, reordering the molecule allows it to be programmed to target other disease-causing genes. This effectively marks a safe path across the ice for others to follow.</p>
<p>This process has meant Alnylam's drug development track record is six-times better than the industry average. And it's not just the company's drug research that makes it special. The commercial expertise it has built over the years enables Alnylam to challenge some of the largest big pharma companies.</p>
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<p><strong>What could the future hold?</strong></p>
<p>Alnylam has spent its first two decades proving its RNAi drugs can work. Its approved drugs have already changed the lives of patients who suffer certain rare diseases. This success has also provided a consistent stream of cash that Alnylam is investing to deliver treatments for more common diseases, such as hypertension, fatty liver disease, and Alzheimer’s.</p>
<p>If Alnylam can maintain its impressive drug development track record in these more common diseases, the potential rewards for patients, the company, and its shareholders are extensive.</p>
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<h3 data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen934959_1669="1806" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen934959_1669="1806" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time934959_1669="100" data-gtm-vis-has-fired934959_1669="1">Risk factors</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Funds are distributed by Baillie Gifford Funds Services LLC. Baillie Gifford Funds Services LLC is registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC, a member of FINRA and is an affiliate of Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited. All information is sourced from Baillie Gifford & Co unless otherwise stated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As with all mutual funds, the value of an investment in the Fund could decline, so you could lose money. International investing involves special risks, which include changes in currency rates, foreign taxation and differences in auditing standards and securities regulations, political uncertainty and greater volatility. These risks are even greater when investing in emerging markets. Security prices in emerging markets can be significantly more volatile than in the more developed nations of the world, reflecting the greater uncertainties of investing in less established markets and economies. Currency risk includes the risk that the foreign currencies in which a Fund’s investments are traded, in which a Fund receives income, or in which a Fund has taken a position, will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Hedging against a decline in the value of currency does not eliminate fluctuations in the prices of portfolio securities or prevent losses if the prices of such securities decline. In addition, hedging a foreign currency can have a negative effect on performance if the U.S. dollar declines in value relative to that currency, or if the currency hedging is otherwise ineffective.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For more information about these and other risks of an investment in the Funds, see "Principal Investment Risks" and "Additional Investment Strategies" in the prospectus. There can be no assurance that the Funds will achieve their investment objectives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This communication was produced and approved in April 2025 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of writing and may not reflect current thinking.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This communication contains information on investments which does not constitute independent research. Accordingly, it is not subject to the protections afforded to independent research and Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As at April, 2025, Baillie Gifford held Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. A full list of holdings is available on request and is subject to change.</p>
