Business model & Strategy

The company’s long-term goal is to register XEN-D0501 as the first TRPV1 antagonist drug.
The company’s short-term goal is to demonstrate the effect of XEN-D0501 on the reduction of blood sugar in type-2 diabetes as well as on the reduction of pain in people affected by erythromelalgia.

“Pila” means “to run fast” and the idea behind the choice of this name was that we should work quickly and cost-effective with a focus on the most essential goals – to focus on “need to do” and avoid “nice to do” as an organizational philosophy.

The company’s intention is to develop the drug candidate XEN-D0501 until a pharma partnership is possible. We focus on consolidating the uniquely good safety profile of the candidate in parallel to gradually add evidence for a clinically meaningful effect in both diabetes (reduction of high blood glucose levels (HbA1c), body weight and risk of cardio-vascular disease) and erythromelalgia (reduction of pain during “flare ups”).

XEN-D0501 is currently formulated as a simple, small tablet with very good shelf life (up to 5 years at 25 C). There is, however, the possibility of developing new formulations for new indications in order to differentiate between the different upcoming drugs for different diseases.

Organizationally, the strategy is to hire experienced specialists to secure the best development methods for different indications. During the period Richard Busellato and Søren Weis Dahl became new Directors of the Board. Richard was invited to join due to his extensive background in the financial industry and deep understanding of capital markets and Søren was invited to join due to his significant expertise in the orphan drug field. In addition, they both add international experience Richard working out of London, UK and Søren out of New York, US. They will both contribute significantly to the further development of the Pila Pharma’s TRPV1 asset.

In addition, Pila Pharma works with a solid core of permanent consultants as well as a number of more peripheral specialist consultants and contract research organizations. This virtual company structure has been further developed during the period and is both strong and flexible and quickly adaptable to changing priorities without losing quality. Quality is essential in drug development, but flexibility is, as we see it, a necessity in order to manage cost-effectively through this long development process

FIG.: The rough development plan for Pila Pharma diabetes project (DM) in blue that was presented at the IPO prospectus 2021 and for it’s orphan project within erythromelalgia (EM), in orange.