Open Orphan spinout Poolbeg Pharma has floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, raising £25m as part of the IPO.

The pharma spinout, which researches and develops treatments for infectious diseases, priced its shares at 10p per share for a market cap of £50m. The company said that an oversubscribed fundraise resulted in an increased raise from £20m to £25m despite some investor scale-back.

Poolbeg Pharma is hoping to use the funds raised through its AIM floatation to fund clinical trial costs in developing its severe influenza treatment. It also hopes to acquire and advance other infectious disease treatments to monetisation.

The company has also developed a biomarker platform for the early prediction of severe disease. Poolbeg Pharma also has access to Open Orphan’s data and biobank to accelerate drug development.

CEO Jeremy Skillington (pictured) said that the IPO and fundraise have provided a strong platform to begin a rapid growth plan.

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“With experienced management on board and the exciting assets acquired from Open Orphan, we look forward to delivering value to our shareholder base and generating innovation in the previously overlooked infectious disease space, which is now one of the fastest growing markets.”

Skillington added that Poolbeg Pharma’s “capital-light model versus conventional biotech has been well received by investors and the life sciences industry at large”.

Cathal Friel, chairman of Poolbeg Pharma, described the floatation as a great opportunity to maximise the potential of some of Open Orphan’s key pharma assets.

“We have been deliberate in creating a company with a capital-light model that can create excellent returns and value for its shareholders with substantially less risk than the traditional biotech model, which is why I was so excited to invest £500,000 personally in the IPO alongside incoming investors.

“We have assembled a leading management team with the tools and funding in place to deliver and are excited to now accelerate all our activities.”

Headquartered in London, Poolbeg Pharma is the third company created out of Raglan Capital, which was founded by Cathal Friel in 2007.

Friel previously completed IPOs for Raglan creations Open Orphan and Amryt Pharma. Open Orphan recorded revenue of c.€9m in 2020.