27th Aug 2025 10:25
(Alliance News) - Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd on Wednesday posted an improvement in half-year results with "strong and steady progress" for its immunotherapy programme.
The cancer drug developer narrowed its operative loss to EUR11.9 million in the six months that ended on June 30 from EUR14.4 million a year before. Loss per share narrowed to 18 euro cents from 20 cents.
According to Faron, the biopharma and life sciences sectors faced "challenging" conditions in the first half of 2025, driven by funding concerns, policy changes related to drug prices, and "cautious dealmaking" in an uncertain environment.
Net assets were EUR16.2 million at June 30, down from EUR35.5 million a year before, though Faron maintained confidence in its financing, with a cash runway extending until 2026. Cash and cash equivalents stood at EUR13.5 million on June 30.
"With the remaining two tranches of convertible bonds we have the needed flexibility to make the next business decisions. This gives us the opportunity to maximise shareholder value as we prepare to progress bexmarilimab into its final stage of development for the treatment of HR MDS."
Bexmarilimab is Faron's lead drug asset, aiming to treat myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS, a type of bone marrow cancer. The company is investigating the drug as a treatment for high-risk MDS, as well as relapsed or refractory MDS.
Back in May, Faron published phase-two trial data "showing strong efficacy and survival outcomes with bexmarilimab" which supported the case for phase-three development.
Faron reported little impact from "stricter" regulation of oncology treatments by the US Food & Drug Administration. The Turku, Finland-based company said it met with the US regulator in 2024 and has since structured its trials to suit the regulator's standards. According to Faron, the FDA is prioritising survival, rather than surrogate endpoints in trials.
Still, the company said: "The FDA was willing to accept a response based surrogate endpoint at an interim read out as the basis of accelerated approval."
Bexmarilimab has an orphan drug designation from both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency, which gives Faron access to additional regulatory guidance.
"We have achieved a number of our main business goals: fully enrolled our BEXMAB phase II study, published very strong phase II efficacy data for bexmarilimab and had the privilege to present it at the world’s leading oncology conferences," commented Chief Executive Juho Jalkanenwe.
Faron shares traded up 3.4% at 230.00 pence on Wednesday morning in London.
By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter
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