Lipella Pharmaceuticals files for bankruptcy protection four years after going public

PITTSBURGH — Over two decades after incorporating and four years after going public, Homewood-based biotech company Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.

The clinical-stage company’s pipeline had included treatments for bladder hemorrhages and oral lichen planus, which is an inflammatory condition that affects the mucous membranes in the mouth.

Lipella was first incorporated in 2005 and went public in 2022, raising approximately $7 million through an IPO. The next year, it raised approximately $2 million through a private placement offering, at the time stating that it was for working capital and “general corporate purposes.”