The infectious disease pharmaceutical firm Poolbeg Pharma (POLB ) has described the year to 31 December 2021 as a year of “great progress” following its spin out from Open Orphan.
Poolbeg, which listed on the junior AIM market in July 2021, is targeting the growing infectious disease market. In the wake of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, infectious diseases are becoming one of the fastest growing markets: its expected value is c. $250 billion by 2025.
In its published results for the year to 31 December 2021, the group said it is well capitalised with a strong cash balance of £20.9m at period end, following the IPO fundraise of £23.2m.
Loss for the period was £2.3m, including initial non-recurring costs of establishing the group.
Having expanded its pipeline since its IPO, Poolbeg said it has significant financial resources to maintain its capital light approach to support its pipeline expansion and development.
Since its IPO in July 2021, the company said it has made ‘substantial progress’ with several infectious disease products having been incorporated into its portfolio; currently, it continues to progress POLB 001 towards an upcoming clinical trial due to commence in June 2022.
POLB 001 is a p38 MAP Kinase inhibitor developed by Poolbeg to treat severe Influenza. During the upcoming study, healthy volunteers’ immune systems will be stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a safe and controlled clinical environment, it noted.
This is expected to provide key human data on the efficacy of POLB 001 in dampening the immune response proving its potential efficacy in treating patients with severe Influenza.
Upon receipt of human data from this study in 2H22, Poolbeg said it will look to commence monetisation to pharma and biotech companies via licensing or partnership agreements.
Poolbeg’s current portfolio of assets also include POLB 002, a first-in-class, intranasally administered, RNA-based immunotherapy for respiratory virus infections and POLB 003, an intramuscular Melioidosis vaccine; it is also developing an oral vaccine delivery platform.
Meanwhile, preliminary outputs from the company’s RSV Artificial Intelligence Discovery Programme - a project formed to identify new drug targets and treatments for the
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus - are expected to be delivered in 2H22.
Addressing shareholders, Dr Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg, said the period had been one of “great progress” at Poolbeg and that in less than six months, the group had grown and diversified its portfolio of products and platforms, targeting a range of infectious diseases.
“We are now using cutting edge Artificial Intelligence technology to exploit our unique human challenge data, having signed up leading AI drug development experts OneThree Biotech to analyse and interrogate our RSV data to identify new drug targets and treatments,” he said.
He explained to investors that this is the first time that artificial intelligence is being used to analyse RSV human challenge study data and that the initial results are expected in 2H22.
Cathal Friel, Chairman of Poolbeg Pharma said: “As the single largest shareholder of the Company, I will make it my duty to ensure that the share price starts performing again.”
Acknowledging the position of Poolbeg’s share price, he stated: “I want to make it clear that none of us are happy with where the share price is currently given the drop since IPO. Market conditions have been and remain extremely challenging however, I want to reassure you that we are actively working on creating demonstrable value as we drive the business forward.”
He believes the pressure on the share price comes from the perceived overhang from the end to the lock-in of the shares received as part of the spin-out, by Open Orphan shareholders.
As a result, he said the company is looking to put in place “a series of actions” that will reduce or eliminate the potential for these shares to impact the market. He added that Poolbeg is also currently at an advanced stage of dual listing on the OTC market in the USA with plans to complete this within 2Q. “This should help provide additional liquidity in Poolbeg,” he said.
“In summary, I am very optimistic that in the months ahead our share price will perform and more importantly, that we will continue to progress our business model as outlined at IPO.”
Looking ahead, Poolbeg said it is ‘exceptionally confident’ for its prospects “for the coming 12 months and beyond.” While an OTC market listing in the US, planned for 2Q22, is expected to provide additional liquidity to the stock, the group also noted that the UK market is now proving to be “attractive” for London listed life sciences firms to generate additional liquidity.
“As well as growing our operational team since July, we’ve also added invaluable international academic expertise to our Scientific Advisory Board. Our capital-light business model is working well, leaving us with significant financial resources to invest in growing our pipeline further and developing our offering to pharma, without any need for further investment.”
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