Poolbeg Pharma PLC on Tuesday launched an equity raise, with funds earmarked for the realisation of ‘value infection points’, as it reported a wider loss in 2024.
The London-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company targeting diseases with a high unmet medical needs said its pretax loss widened to £5.9 million in 2024 from £4.5 million in 2023.
Poolbeg has no revenue, so the wider loss is due to higher costs. Administrative expenses rose 56% to £5.3 million from £3.4 million, and Poolberg reported a net loss on disposal of assets of £261,000, compared to none in 2023.
The company’s cash balance at December 31 was £7.8 million, down 36% from £12.2 million a year prior, with PoolBeg Pharma saying this reflects ‘disciplined capital allocation to drive pipeline advancements.’
Executive Chair Cathal Friel said: ‘During 2024, we made significant advancements across our pipeline of drug candidates while maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation.
‘Our clinical programmes target large addressable markets, including cancer immunotherapy-induced Cytokine Release Syndrome with our lead programme POLB 001, and we remain focused on maximising their potential to create value for our shareholders.’
Poolbeg Pharma also announced plans to raise £4.1 million from the sale of new shares at 2.5 pence each.
The stock was down 12% to 2.51p on Tuesday morning in London.
Poolbeg aims to raise at least £2.7 million from a share placing through an accelerated bookbuild process, plus about £1.3 million through direct share subscriptions.
It aims to raise the remaining £100,000 from existing retail investors through the BookBuild platform.
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Ltd will conduct the bookbuild process as sole bookrunner.
Poolbeg intends to use the net proceeds of the equity raise to realise ‘expected value inflection points’ tied to its Polb 001 Phase 2a trial and its oral GLP-1 proof of concept trial.
Polb 001 is the firm’s lead programme, an oral drug designed to prevent cancer immunotherapy-induced Cytokine Release Syndrome, while its GLP-1 programme is aimed at the rapidly growing obesity market.
The funds will be used to support Poolbeg’s financial runway into 2027, it said.
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