Poolbeg Pharma (POLB) , a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on infectious diseases, announced the appointment of three key former executives of Amryt Pharma to its leadership team.
The new executives will assume pivotal roles within Poolbeg. Both Poolbeg and Amryt were co-founded by Poolbeg's current Chairman Cathal Friel. Poolbeg aims to follow a similar strategic approach to Amryt, focused on developing novel clinical assets and the acquisition of approved and marketed drugs.
David Allmond will join Poolbeg as Chief Business Officer from 1 December 2023. He was previously CBO at Amryt and was instrumental in putting in place the commercial infrastructure at Amryt which supported its revenue growth from US$1.5m when Allmond joined in 2016, to c. US$250m six years later when Amryt was sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici.
Allmond played a pivotal role in several key acquisitions for Amryt, including Lojuxta, Aegerion, and Chiasma Pharmaceuticals. Previously he led the EMEA team at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and was the Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing at Celgene.
John McEvoy will join Poolbeg as SVP, Chief Legal Officer, from 1 January 2024. He was Global General Counsel at Amryt from 2017 and continued his role following its sale to Chiesi Farmaceutici earlier this year. McEvoy played an instrumental role in Amryt's aforementioned acquisitions, and also led the company's dual-listing on Nasdaq in 2020.
Laura Maher will join Poolbeg as Vice President of Clinical Operations from 8 January 2024. She joined Amryt in 2018 as Associate Director of Clinical Operations and led the clinical research programmes for multiple products in Amryt's pipeline, including Filsuvez, the world's first approved epidermolysis bullosa treatment. Previously she held roles at Prothena Biosciences, Cancer Trials Ireland, and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer.
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Poolbeg has hired 3 key former executives of Amryt Pharma in an effort to boost R&D and acquisition of new clinical assets, to in turn bolster revenues and develop a robust pipeline of innovative products. The three new additions to Poolbeg's senior leadership all have extensive backgrounds in R&D and acquisitions and are expected to lead the company in this revised strategy. Markets welcomed the news, driving POLB shares 6% higher on Thursday.
With the new hires, Poolbeg sets off on a path similar to Amryt which was co-founded by Poolbeg's Chairman Cathal Friel in 2015 and floated on AIM in 2016, before dual listing on Nasdaq in 2020 and selling to Chiesi Farmaceutici in 2023 for US$1.48 billion. Over the past 3 years, Poolbeg has grown to where it can now advance an impressive pipeline of products, therefore the move to hire the former Amryt executives makes sense.
Poolbeg detailed significant progress across its portfolio in its most recent interim update for H1 2023. The company progressed its pipeline significantly during the period with strong clinical trial data for its flagship POLB 001 candidate and breakthroughs in its AI drug discovery programmes. POLB 001 is shaping up to be a highly valuable asset as an effective treatment for severe influenza and potentially other acute inflammatory conditions, in addition to oncology indications. Poolbeg is currently in discussions with potential oncology partners for POLB 001, with an agreement likely to be signed in 2023 or 2024.
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