IRISH BIOTECH group Amarin has agreed funding that will see it raise $70 million through a private placement, ending months of uncertainty, and securing its funding requirements for the next three years.

The company yesterday also announced changes to its board that will see Tom Lynch step aside as chief executive. He will remain as chairman of the company, which is listed in the US.

In a statement, the company said Dr Declan Doogan, head of research and development at Amarin, will assume the post of chief executive on an interim basis. Mr Lynch, a former chief financial officer at Elan, will remain as company chairman.

He stepped into the CEO role in late 2007 following the departure of Rick Stewart in the aftermath of the failure of the company’s main drug, a treatment for Huntington’s disease, in clinical trials.

Mr Lynch has since repositioned the group, which is currently developing a cardiovascular treatment. “Over the past 12 months, we have significantly de-risked the Phase III programme with two special protocol assessment agreements with the US Food and Drug Administration and now, with the announcement of today’s financing, the programme is funded through a new drug application (NDA) filing,” Mr Lynch said yesterday.

The private placement will consist of $66.4 million in cash and $3.6 million from the conversion of convertible bridge notes, and is being raised from existing and new investors, led by Fountain Healthcare Partners, the Dublin-based private equity group that specialises in investments in the areas of speciality pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics.

The company will use the funding to progress two Phase 3 clinical trials and to end $1.9 million in bridge financing it took out in July.

Two new directors will also join the board, Dr Manus Rogan of Fountain Healthcare Partners and Dr Joseph Anderson of Abingworth LLP. Fountain Healthcare Partners is an existing investor in Amarin. The new investor group was led by funds affiliated with Abingworth.