Poolbeg Pharma PLC (AIM:POLB), the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical, has raised £3.5 million before expenses through a share placing.
Cathal Friel, executive chair, subscribed for £250,000 of the placing.
Poolbeg said the net proceeds would strengthen its hand in ongoing partnering discussions while funding two clinical trials through to completion.
The money will support the POLB 001 TOPICAL trial and an oral GLP-1 proof-of-concept trial, the latter targeting the same appetite-suppressing pathway used by weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy.
Together with existing cash, the proceeds are expected to extend the company's cash runway into the second quarter of 2028.
Jeremy Skillington, chief executive, said the investment round, completed at a modest discount, was a market endorsement of the company's strategy and pipeline.
He said data from the POLB 001 TOPICAL trial would position Poolbeg to capitalise on partnering interest and generate value for shareholders.
Poolbeg, which floated on AIM in 2021 after spinning out of Open Orphan, has made its pipeline focus over recent years toward immunomodulation and metabolic disease.
