Pila Pharma’s capital raise oversubscribed by 293 percent to fund obesity studies

Biotech company Pila Pharma has recently completed a strongly oversubscribed share issue on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm. The raised capital of nearly SEK 30 million will finance the first steps of development of a next-generation, tablet-based treatment for obesity with global potential.

Founded by former Novo Nordisk researcher Dr. Dorte X. Gram, Malmö-based Pila Pharma is developing XEN-D0501, a new type of oral treatment that targets the TRPV1 receptor – a key regulator of pain, temperature, and metabolism. The goal is to offer a practical and scalable alternative to today’s injectable obesity drugs.

Strong investor interest despite challenging market

The share issue was oversubscribed by 293.5%, raising nearly SEK 30 million. This makes it one of the more notable biotech financings in the Nordic market in recent years, despite a generally cautious investor sentiment.

The success of the capital raise can partly be attributed to a risk-minimized model for investors, where additional financing will only be triggered by positive share price development following favorable results from upcoming preclinical studies.

– We are both proud and grateful for the overwhelming support from our shareholders. It confirms confidence in our strategy and in the unique potential of our focus on obesity says CEO Gustav H. Gram and continues:

– With more than one billion people live with obesity and over four billion are overweight. Treating such a massive population will only be possible with a highly scalable solution – such as tablets. With this funding, we can now accelerate development and initiate new studies to generate meaningful data documenting both efficacy and safety, with the goal of delivering a differentiated oral solution for people living with overweight or obesity worldwide.

Next step: new preclinical obesity studies

The funds will be used to advance the development of the company’s drug candidate XEN-D0501, an oral TRPV1 inhibitor for the treatment of obesity. According to the company, the candidate differs significantly from the injection-based GLP-1 treatments that currently dominate the market as well as from other oral candidates in development. The discovery dates back to Dorte X. Gram’s time at Novo Nordisk, when she identified that inhibition of TRPV1 could play a role in regulating obesity and other metabolic diseases – an idea that is now being fully pursued.

On 30 September, Pila Pharma announced that they had signed a contract with the Danish company Gubra to carry out the preclinical studies.

A practical and scalable alternative

The drug candidate, XEN-D0501, is an oral TRPV1 inhibitor – chemically simple and potentially inexpensive to manufacture. Unlike GLP-1 treatments, they have a different side-effect profile – without nausea or gastrointestinal issues, which, alongside cost, are among the key reasons why more than half of patients discontinue GLP-1 treatment within the first year.

According to Pila Pharma, their oral alternative has the potential to become an effective, practical, and scalable option compared to the injection-based treatments that dominate today’s market.

– The market for obesity drugs is growing explosively, but many of the solutions we see today rely on injections and are often associated with significant side effects or accessibility issues. We believe that a tablet with our orally available TRPV1 inhibitor, we can offer a new and potentially more practical and accessible path to weight loss without the known gastrointestinal issues – and that is what we are now pursuing, says CEO Gustav H. Gram.

Results from the ongoing studies are expected in early 2026, ahead of the exercise period for the company’s TO2 warrants (5–15 February 2026). If the results are positive, Pila Pharma plans to move forward to clinical trials in people living with overweight or obesity, and in parallel prepare a similar study in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Pila Pharma’s ambition is to develop XEN-D0501 into a first-in-class treatment for obesity and diabetes based on TRPV1 inhibition. The company is headquartered in Malmö and listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm under the ticker “PILA.”