Highly experienced management team with a track record of success in the pharmaceutical industry.
Cathal Friel is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a long and successful history and to date has listed five companies on the London Stock Exchange. Cathal is Managing Director of Raglan Capital and serves as Chairman and co-founder of both Poolbeg Pharma plc and European Green Transition plc. Poolbeg was established as a spin-off from hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc) in 2021, a company which Cathal also co-founded and served as Chairman until June 2025. Prior to this, Cathal co-founded Amryt Pharma plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and dual listed on Nasdaq in 2020 and was later sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48bn in April 2023. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chairman of Fastnet Oil & Gas plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2012.
Cathal began his working career a little earlier than most by having to step in to help run the family business in 1981 at the relatively young age of 16 due to a family illness. He went on to complete his education by taking night classes and received an MBA from the University of Ulster in 1990. Cathal then spent the following five years lecturing on a part-time basis on International Marketing and Business Planning at the University of Ulster whilst in tandem running his own technology services business. In 2001, Cathal was part of the team that successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin. Following Merrion’s trade sale in 2006, he founded Raglan Capital which is renowned for building in-house companies that are listed on the public stock markets. Cathal was a finalist in the international category of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.
Jeremy Skillington, PhD began his biotechnology career in the Business Development group of Genentech, Inc in California in 2002. At Genentech he was responsible for executing over 40 licensing, investment and collaboration transactions. Returning to Ireland in 2009, Jeremy led Business Development and was a member of the Senior Management team at Opsona Therapeutics Ltd before becoming a founder and CEO of immuno-oncology company TriMod Therapeutics Ltd. In 2014 Jeremy joined German life science investment fund HS Lifesciences GmbH to provide start-up and business development support to portfolio companies ImmunoQure AG and Ethris GmbH. Jeremy joined Inflazome Ltd on its founding in 2016 and as VP of Business Development was instrumental in their acquisition by Roche in September 2020 for €380m upfront and significant downstream milestones for their portfolio of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors. He has been CEO of publicly listed Poolbeg Pharma Plc since June 2021.
Jeremy studied Biochemistry at the University of Galway, Ireland where he was awarded his PhD. He performed post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco in the lab of Prof Rik Derynck. He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College, Dublin in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology.
Ian O’Connell is an experienced financial professional with a depth of healthcare and public markets experience. In 2017 he co-founded Open Orphan plc, was made a Board Observer and as VP Corporate Development, he led the acquisition of hVIVO plc and the reverse takeover (RTO) of Venn Life Sciences plc. As a member of the core senior management team, Ian helped drive the company to its position today as a world leader in the testing of infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge studies.
Prior to this, Ian worked closely with Cathal Friel and Amryt’s senior management on the establishment of Amryt Pharma plc. Ian gained Corporate Finance experience at both Raglan Capital and Deloitte Corporate Finance. Ian has a BSc (Hons) in Finance from University College Cork and is a Member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Meena Arora is a senior pharmaceutical medicine executive with over two decades of experience in Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, and leadership across haemato-oncology, oncology, rare diseases, and orphan drug development. She currently serves as Vice President Medical Affairs and Development at Poolbeg Pharma.
Previously, Meena was VP Global Medical Affairs and R&D at Traws Pharma/Onconova Therapeutics, overseeing oncology and rare disease programs, and VP Global Medical Affairs at Amryt Pharma (Chiesi), where she led global medical strategy for pipeline assets and Filsuvez®, the first approved topical treatment for dystrophic and junctional epidermolysis bullosa.
Earlier, at Celgene, she contributed to the development of major oncology assets, including CAR T-cell therapy development, and served as Scientific Lead for the MRC Myeloma XI Trial. She also held various medical, scientific and management roles at GlaxoSmithKline and SmithKline Beecham.
Meena holds a MSc in Drug Development Science from King’s College London, Postgraduate Diplomas in Pharmaceutical Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science, BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science, and the Advanced Certificate in Marketing (ACIM). She is also a Visiting Lecturer at King’s College London at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Medicine Research, contributing to postgraduate teaching in drug development and medical affairs.
Bruno Speder is VP, Regulatory Affairs at Poolbeg Pharma and has a substantial career in global regulatory affairs in a broad range of therapeutic areas, ranging from infectious diseases to oncology. He has extensive experience supporting global development programs in various stages of development and leading discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other regulators. Over the past decade he has worked with a multitude of biotech companies helping them advance the development of their products. He has served on the advisory board of a number of companies, translating scientific and clinical strategies to a pragmatic regulatory approach.
He holds a degree in Bio-Engineering (Ghent University, Belgium) and a degree in Health Economics (EHSAL Management School, Belgium).
Liam Tremble is the lead on a number of Poolbeg Pharma’s early-stage discovery programs. Liam was one of Poolbeg’s first employees, having previously worked for the CRO, hVIVO, conducting human challenge trials. Liam has become the Project Lead for Influenza and RSV drug discovery AI programs, Scientific Advisor on drug candidate licencing opportunities, Project Lead on non-dilutive funding opportunities and grant writing and Scientific Lead on product repositioning and indication expansion. Liam has a particular interest in immunomodulatory therapies for the prophylaxis and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. Identifying new opportunities to improve patient outcomes and bring new products to the clinic drives him in his day-to-day work at Poolbeg Pharma plc.
Liam has a PhD in Translational Cancer Research from University College Cork, having previously being trained as a Immunologist at Trinity College Dublin (BSc and MSc).
Ross Crockett is a fellow member of Chartered Accountants Ireland and has extensive experience in senior finance positions in public listed companies including Amryt Pharma plc, Cove Energy plc, Fastnet Oil & Gas plc and Orogen Gold plc. Mr Crockett has worked with Accenture and Barclays plc in Ireland, and Westpac Bank and Commonwealth Bank in Australia. Ross qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2006 having completed his training with Ernst & Young Dublin and holds a masters degree in Accounting from University College Dublin (Ireland).
Carol Dalton is Co-founder and VP of Investor Relations & Public Relations at Poolbeg Pharma plc. With strong public markets and life science experience, Carol previously co-founded hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc) in 2017 and has been instrumental in its growth and success to date. Carol holds a BSc in Nutraceuticals with a focus on antimicrobial resistance from Technological University Dublin.
Cathal Friel is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with a long and successful history and to date has listed five companies on the London Stock Exchange. Cathal is Managing Director of Raglan Capital and serves as Chairman and co-founder of both Poolbeg Pharma plc and European Green Transition plc. Poolbeg was established as a spin-off from hVIVO plc (formerly Open Orphan plc) in 2021, a company which Cathal also co-founded and served as Chairman until June 2025. Prior to this, Cathal co-founded Amryt Pharma plc which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and dual listed on Nasdaq in 2020 and was later sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48bn in April 2023. Prior to that, he was co-founder and Chairman of Fastnet Oil & Gas plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2012.
Cathal began his working career a little earlier than most by having to step in to help run the family business in 1981 at the relatively young age of 16 due to a family illness. He went on to complete his education by taking night classes and received an MBA from the University of Ulster in 1990. Cathal then spent the following five years lecturing on a part-time basis on International Marketing and Business Planning at the University of Ulster whilst in tandem running his own technology services business. In 2001, Cathal was part of the team that successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin. Following Merrion’s trade sale in 2006, he founded Raglan Capital which is renowned for building in-house companies that are listed on the public stock markets. Cathal was a finalist in the international category of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.
Jeremy Skillington, PhD began his biotechnology career in the Business Development group of Genentech, Inc in California in 2002. At Genentech he was responsible for executing over 40 licensing, investment and collaboration transactions. Returning to Ireland in 2009, Jeremy led Business Development and was a member of the Senior Management team at Opsona Therapeutics Ltd before becoming a founder and CEO of immuno-oncology company TriMod Therapeutics Ltd. In 2014 Jeremy joined German life science investment fund HS Lifesciences GmbH to provide start-up and business development support to portfolio companies ImmunoQure AG and Ethris GmbH. Jeremy joined Inflazome Ltd on its founding in 2016 and as VP of Business Development was instrumental in their acquisition by Roche in September 2020 for €380m upfront and significant downstream milestones for their portfolio of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors. He has been CEO of publicly listed Poolbeg Pharma Plc since June 2021.
Jeremy studied Biochemistry at the University of Galway, Ireland where he was awarded his PhD. He performed post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco in the lab of Prof Rik Derynck. He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College, Dublin in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology.
Ian O’Connell is an experienced financial professional with a depth of healthcare and public markets experience. In 2017 he co-founded Open Orphan plc, was made a Board Observer and as VP Corporate Development, he led the acquisition of hVIVO plc and the reverse takeover (RTO) of Venn Life Sciences plc. As a member of the core senior management team, Ian helped drive the company to its position today as a world leader in the testing of infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge studies.
Prior to this, Ian worked closely with Cathal Friel and Amryt’s senior management on the establishment of Amryt Pharma plc. Ian gained Corporate Finance experience at both Raglan Capital and Deloitte Corporate Finance. Ian has a BSc (Hons) in Finance from University College Cork and is a Member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
Professor Luke O’Neill
Non-Executive Director
Luke O’Neill is Professor of Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is a world expert on innate immunity and inflammation. His main research interests include Toll-like receptors, Inflammasomes and Immunometabolism. He is listed by Thompson Reuters/ Clarivates in the top 1% of immunologists in the world, based on citations per paper. Professor O’Neill is co-founder of Sitryx, which aims to develop new medicines for inflammatory diseases. Another company he co-founded, Inflazome was recently acquired by Roche.
Luke was awarded the Royal Dublin Society / Irish Times Boyle Medal for scientific excellence, the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences, The Society for Leukocyte Biology (SLB) Dolph O. Adams award, the European Federation of Immunology Societies Medal and in 2018 the Milstein Award of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society. Luke is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Eddie Gibson is a seasoned biopharma leader. Eddie has a strong commercial track record of launch and general management in both pharmaceuticals and biotechs with over 25 years’ experience leading biopharma organisations with experience working across multiple geographies and senior roles within the industry. Eddie has personally led many major European launches and also led the creation and implementation of global access plans in a wide range of therapy areas including oncology, haematology, virology, neuroscience, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
As founder of Wickenstones, a pharma market access consultancy, Eddie has led diverse teams to develop and deliver complex plans for market access and has been instrumental in the facilitation of plans to deliver new pharmaceuticals to the global market. Eddie also acts as an advisor and NED to both biotech start-ups and as an advisor to the Korean Health Development Initiative – a government advisory committee designed to accelerate the biotech and pharmaceutical industries in South Korea.
Prof. Brendan Buckley is a medical graduate of University College Cork and a doctoral graduate of Oxford University. For most of his career he worked in academic clinical practice as a consultant physician. He holds professorial titles in the faculties of Medicine at Universities in Cork and Dublin. He has over 30 years’ experience in clinical research in roles as chief investigator, chair of data and safety monitoring committees and on institutional review boards.
He became Chief Medical Officer of ICON plc, following their acquisition of Firecrest Clinical Ltd, which he had co-founded. He was a member of ICON plc’s Executive Leadership Team and was actively involved in M&A targeting, assessment and diligence. Firecrest was one of a number of companies focused on clinical trial innovation which he co-founded and sold.
Brendan was a non-executive director of the Irish national medicines regulatory authority (now the Health Products Regulatory Authority) between 2004 and 2011. He was a member of the inaugural European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) and of the EMA Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology as well as teaching on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advanced courses on clinical trials. He serves on the boards of various pharma development and services companies, some of which he has co-founded. Brendan has over 150 scientific publications, including the key opinion-leading book ‘Re-Engineering Clinical Trials’.
Professor Luke O’Neill
Luke O’Neill is Professor of Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is a world expert on innate immunity and inflammation. His main research interests include Toll-like receptors, Inflammasomes and Immunometabolism. He is listed by Thompson Reuters/ Clarivates in the top 1% of immunologists in the world, based on citations per paper. Professor O’Neill is co-founder of Sitryx, which aims to develop new medicines for inflammatory diseases. Another company he co-founded, Inflazome was acquired by Roche.
Luke was awarded the Royal Dublin Society / Irish Times Boyle Medal for scientific excellence, the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences, The Society for Leukocyte Biology (SLB) Dolph O. Adams award, the European Federation of Immunology Societies Medal and in 2018 the Milstein Award of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society. Luke is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2023 he was appointed to the governing body of the European Research Council, the EU’s premier funder of fundamental research with an annual budget of €2bn.
Prof Brendan Buckley
Prof. Brendan Buckley is a medical graduate of University College Cork and a doctoral graduate of Oxford University . For most of his career he worked in academic clinical practice as a consultant physician. He holds professorial titles in the faculties of Medicine at Universities in Cork and Dublin. He has over 30 years’ experience in clinical research in roles as chief investigator, chair of data and safety monitoring committees and on institutional review boards.
He became Chief Medical Officer of ICON plc, following their acquisition of Firecrest Clinical Ltd, which he had co-founded. He was a member of ICON plc’s Executive Leadership Team and was actively involved in M&A targeting, assessment and diligence. Firecrest was one of a number of companies focused on clinical trial innovation which he co-founded and sold.
Brendan was a non-executive director of the Irish national medicines regulatory authority (now the Health Products Regulatory Authority) between 2004 and 2011. He was a member of the inaugural European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) and of the EMA Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology as well as teaching on FDA advanced courses on clinical trials. He serves on the boards of various pharma development and services companies, some of which he has co-founded. Brendan has over 150 scientific publications, including the key opinion-leading book ‘Re-Engineering Clinical Trials’.
Dr Elaine Sullivan is a Senior pharmaceutical and biotech industry executive with a successful track record in science, investment, business development, and start-ups with over 25 years’ experience. She has extensive global leadership experience including membership of the top senior global R&D management teams at Eli Lilly (US) where she held the position of Vice President Global External Research & Development, and she was a member of Lilly Ventures and Lilly Asian Venture steering Committee. At AstraZeneca (UK) she held a number of positions including Vice President R&D, Head of New Opportunities Therapy Area and Vice President, Science & Technology. Former positions also include positions co-founder and CEO of Carrick Therapeutics. Her board appointments include Member of the Supervisory Board of Evotec AG, Non-Executive Director of the IP Group plc, hVIVO plc, Zealand Pharmaceuticals and Nykode Therapeutics ASI where she is also the Chair of the R&D committee.
She was named Ernst Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year (Ireland) Executed external risk share partnerships, to access to global innovation while balancing scientific and financial risk. Member of the steering and investment boards of Capital Funds, Lilly Ventures, and Lilly Asian Ventures. Former positions include Co-founder and CEO of Carrick Therapeutics raised $95 million Series A. Vice-President R&D, Head of New Opportunities Therapy Area (AstraZeneca, UK), creating additional value from the AstraZeneca portfolio by repositioning molecules to other diseases and entering new therapy areas/diseases via spinouts, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. Delivered over 250 collaborations and transactions including spinouts, joint ventures, strategic partnerships and multi-million US$ acquisitions. Extensive experience in executing deals world-wide including US, Europe, and China. Worked globally in US and Europe.
Daniel F. Hoft, M.D., Ph.D. is the Dianna and J. Joseph Adorjan Endowed Chair of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, and Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy & Immunology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He has been working in immunology and infectious diseases for 32 years.
Dr. Hoft’s interests in infectious diseases started when he served as Senior Malaria Health Officer for the Peace Corps in Malaysia. Dr. Hoft then received his MD from the University of Missouri and was trained in Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa, where he received an NIH Physician Science Training Award (PSTA) allowing him to complete a Ph.D. in microbiology/immunology. He came to Saint Louis University in 1992 and has received continuous NIH funding since his arrival. His group has pioneered use of immunoinformatics to develop T cell-targeting, “universal” vaccines to protect all human populations against future influenza pandemics. In addition to contributions in pre-clinical vaccinology, Hoft has conducted human trials with the goal of improving tuberculosis (TB) vaccines
In 2014 he became the Principal Investigator of SLU’s Vaccine & Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU), one of nine NIH centers. which has received millions in NIH funding through contracts and awards, including a Vaccine & Treatment Evaluation Unit contract placing SLU among an elite group of top academic centers conducting phase I through III trials of novel vaccines for global protection against future pandemic challenges. In 2018 he received an Outstanding Scientist Award from the St. Louis Academy of Science. Since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic the SLU VTEU led by Dr. Hoft has featured prominently in the urgent COVID-19 vaccine development. Currently, in addition to being the PI of the VTEU, Dr. Hoft is the PI on 3 active NIH RO1 awards for studies of universal influenza T cell immunity and optimal mucosal and systemic TB-specific immunity. In addition, he is the VTEU protocol chair for a first-in-human phase 1 trial of a novel COVID-19 vaccine designed to induce both protective neutralizing antibody and protective T cell responses in more than 95% of the world’s population.