Pila Pharma AB (publ) (PILA) Earnings Call Transcript
August 27, 2025
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
All right. We are live and joined here in the studio today in Stockholm by Gustav H. Gram, CEO of Pila Pharma. How are you?
I'm good. How are you, Joakim? Nice to be back.
Yes. Nice to have you back. And I'm doing great. And I want to remind all of you who are viewing today that we are live, and we have the chat box open here so you can put your questions and comments there, if you have any, and I will try to get to them through this during this podcast or during this webcast, I should say.
So let's start big picture, Gustav. You just released your H1 report. How would you describe the first half of the year for Pila?
I would say it's been eventful. We came into the year with certain expectations and underway, certain things have changed. We have witnessed quite a transition in the sentiment, I would say, in the obesity market with which we would like to, of course, play a part. We have engaged with several pharmaceutical companies who have expressed interest in what we are doing. And they think that we have a very differentiated type of drug. They think that we have an interesting take on how to treat metabolic conditions such as obesity. But they are, let's say, wishing to see more data, which is common in this industry, of course. But that really spurred us to change some things up and to propose to make a bet on obesity, as we've called it. So at least during this half year, it's been very much about finding the right path forward, which is, of course, to define like a development track, like from the early stage until a point where it can create meaningful data as such. And then finally, of course, we had to figure out how to finance it, and we decided on a rights issue of units, so a rights issue where you've obtained warrants as well as shares. And that was announced in June, so before the end of the period, but it was only concluded in July, so after the period's end. And that was, of course, super satisfying to see that we had hit a nice spot, I think, because the rights issue was oversubscribed quite significantly.
Right. So it was not only fully subscribed, it was oversubscribed. So how much money did you raise for this?
So just short of SEK 30 million. So it was oversubscribed to 293.5%. So quite exceptional by today's market's standards. And we had not -- maybe not anticipated such a great result, but it allowed us to take in the money that we had planned for, but also include an overallotment option to include new investors who can hopefully play their part in the future development of the company as well.
Yes. And we got a question in here already from the chat. Gustav, congratulations on the positive results from the share issue. What's the runway now?
So we don't have an officially -- official guidance for the runway as such. But what we can say is that at least the proposed obesity rat studies that we will be commencing here in the autumn, we should be more than well-funded for this as such. And of course, it depends a lot on how many activities you set in motion. But I think most long-term investors know us as a team that are very prudent around the money that we have. And so it's not as such that investors should expect us to increase our burn rate by a huge amount outside of what is required to run these next studies that we would like to do.
Right. So with this new fresh capital in hand, then do you want to go into a little more detail, but keep it fairly noncomplicated for nonpharma experts then. What does this mean for your continued development of the lead program in obesity and also in the other application areas?
Yes. So, so far, we have conducted clinical trials in humans living with obesity and type 2 diabetes. And now the wish is to do trials in obesity, specifically. So we have come forward with a development plan that entails doing, first, some proof-of-concept studies in an in vivo model, so in rats. And subsequently, of course, pending good results, we would move on to doing human trials, so clinical trials in people living with obesity but maybe not type 2 diabetes. And this is, of course, very exciting because it really is moving into an area that is of particular interest, of course, if you're like in the pharma sector. But equally so for many investors who have an interest in health care as a general theme because, of course, there are so many derived diseases from conditions such as obesity.
Right. So we are getting a question to getting more -- a little bit more into the results here. So can you talk a little bit about that? I mean for pharmaceutical companies such as yours, I mean you want to really have revenues until the drug is commercialized in the market. But do you still want to comment on the numbers that you released this morning?
I don't think there's anything surprising in the numbers if you have followed the company for a while. I mean our burn rate is pretty consistent with what it was in the half year prior. So from our last half year report. And equally so, we, of course, we can put some words on the cash position, which is expressed in the report. But I think the more important part is, of course, to note that after the period, the company has been very well funded through these rights issue that we mentioned before. So at least going forward, we're in a good position to execute on the plans that we have set forward.
Yes. Another question that we got e-mailed into us beforehand here was an investor, and this is a question we usually get in these kind of interviews. Both you and your Chair, Dorte X. Gram, have recently increased your personal stakes in the company. What's behind the move? And how do you see the insider purchases?
I mean I think we, of course, we are hugely excited as well by the prospect of us potentially achieving proof-of-concept data in obesity. That would be the first for this type of drug class. So that would really be a very pivotal moment in -- not just in the company's lifetime, but potentially within the medical sciences as well. And so we think there's a lot of value to be had. Of course, that is why we keep reinvesting. We also want to showcase to investors that we put our money where we believe it's best invested, and that is in Pila, where we, of course, can influence it as well to a large degree. So last year, for example, I reinvested myself personally 3 times, and we have all, both myself, the Chairman, Dorte, as well as the entire Board of Directors have participated in this rights issue that was just concluded. So overall, there's a broad sentiment of not just support, but also belief that we have something very interesting here.
Yes, yes. And that certainly shows then that there is a stake from the founders and leadership. I mean how much of the company shares is owned by the founders?
So of course, now we have a new share ledger. So it's around 15% that -- I mean, of course, it needs to be said, Dorte and myself, we're related. So if you count us as one entity, we're around 15% in total. But it's on different accounts, of course.
Yes. And on the market side then, your stock, Pila Pharma, is trading on Nasdaq First North growth market under the ticker, PILA. After this capital raise now and the attention your pipeline is getting, what kind of feedback and interest are you seeing from investors?
I think, I mean, we saw that during this rights issue in the summer, there was a lot of interest, especially now from Swedish investors as well. I mean, us, being Danish, we've seen this obesity coming for a number of years through the companies that have a profile with that in Denmark. So we definitely sense it now. There's a lot of interest around obesity as a designated disease here in Sweden among investors. I think they have realized that interesting opportunities going forward will likely be companies that develop solutions that are oral and potentially doing something that is a little bit different than what is on the market. And that fits us quite well since we have this very promising TRPV1 inhibitor.
Yes, yes. We noticed that this summer, too, there was a lot of people buying shares in Novo Nordisk when the share price dropped. And do you feel that there is an understanding in the market about the differences between your drug and that drug?
I think there's still a lot of education needed, of course, but I think it's -- the broader picture is that the obesity market is here to stay. And there will be many different pathways to treat diseases such as obesity. So of course, they currently have marketed products and we have something in development that could potentially be a future marketed product. So there's no right or wrong necessarily. It's going to be a very fragmented market going forward, very likely. There would likely be a very big emphasis on oral products that can really be scaled to meet the demand on a global stage. I mean we all know how many people are living with obesity and diabetes. It's more than 1 billion for obesity and more than 4 billion for overweight. So the market is really far from being saturated, of course.
And of course, that is the big step right now then going from injectables, which is, of course, not so easy to use and so on into an oral drug, and that's something that's developed both by Novo Nordisk, but also by their American competitor, Eli Lilly, and you're developing an oral drug as well, but treating or using a different -- pathway, that was the word.
Yes, using a different pathway. You are looking -- I mean some patients might not be very tolerant to the side effects of GLP-1s, for example, like nausea and constipation and diarrhea, et cetera. So at least from doctors' perspectives and from patients' perspectives, that is what we hear when we go to scientific conferences. They're looking to expand the portfolio of potential drugs that could be used so that in the future, you will likely have many different subgroups of obese people with different cardiovascular complications or renal complications, and they will -- they might need different types of products. So they will be -- there will for sure be a place in the market for any product that is oral, can showcase efficacy, meaning that you can lose weight over time. It doesn't have to be extreme weight loss like the injectables. And then it needs to have a very nice safety profile so that patients can actually adhere to it and not discontinue after 1 to 2 years, which is quite common.
Exactly. So because people are different, right? And they have different...
Biology.
Yes, biology. Yes, right. So some people might not be receptive to the drugs that are from the big blockbusters today. So there needs to be other products on the market then, if I understand you correctly. I want to get to another view or a question that we got in here as well from [ Niels. ] Is it possible for you to elaborate a little bit more on the specific timeline? When is the first study starting? And when do you expect to see results from this?
So I would encourage [ Niels ] to have a look in our report because we actually included a little bit of a timeline there where we showcased that we expect this preclinical in vivo study in rats to commence here in the autumn, and it should be ready around New Year. And subsequently, of course, pending good results, pending funding, we would like to commence clinical trials in humans in obesity.
Okay. So in a few months' time, we'll expect to some kind of results.
Yes. Again, we take the prudent view. We'd like to not overpromise. We would like to showcase some results now. We know investors have waited for some time. And for -- they have also -- many investors have been on the journey for a long time, always with the same goal to come forward with a differentiated solution. So now we take the next step and hopefully, these results can come in sooner rather than later.
Yes. With respect for your time, too, we are going to wrap this up soon. But finally, a question from me. And I also want to encourage everyone who's watching, if you want to have a last question, you can drop it in the chat box now. But finally, for me, Gustav, what are you personally most excited about in the coming months, whether it's clinical milestone, partnership, something else?
Yes, I'm looking forward to get started. I mean it's -- now we've been talking, we spent our entire summer, not much holidays. So we've been working really hard to see if we can get this -- getting this up and going. And now we actually have the means to get it going. So I'm super excited to hopefully, soon, announce that we have chosen a top-tier preclinical partner to help us conduct these in vivo studies. And then, of course, we would love to share more during the autumn of how things are going and what activities we're doing and what conferences we're at and how the sentiment in the industry is moving. So for my part, it's all the more exciting now that we have the means to do things, that goes without saying. And I think for investors as well, it should be an interesting time. If you're not already on board, of course, the opportunity is still there. And I mean we're very much in a hot space. Time will tell. If things come through, of course, there's always a certain risk involved with investing in pre-revenue biotech companies like ourselves. But of course, the upside is huge as well if we nail it right.
Yes, yes. Interesting. And also for those people who are not watching this live and if they have any questions, they want to get in contact with you, what's the best way of doing that?
So you can visit our website, pilapharma.com. You can check us out on different social media channels. We try to upload quite a lot to keep a lot of news flow and of course, showcase what we're up to. You can alternatively also e-mail us either on investor@pilapharma.com or on info@pilapharma.com, and then we will see to it that you will get the best answer that we can give you to your question.
Okay. Great. Thank you, Gustav, for joining us today. And a big thank you to all of you who tuned in and watched this. We'll see you next time.
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