MATINS study selected for ESMO 2019

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy

("Faron" or the "Company")

MATINS study selected for presentation at ESMO 2019 congress

TURKU - FINLAND, 02 September 2019 - Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (AIM: FARN), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today announces that an abstract highlighting recent data from the Phase I/II MATINS study with Clevegen, its wholly-owned novel precision cancer immunotherapy, has been selected for a poster discussion presentation at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2019 Congress, taking place in Barcelona between 27 September and 1 October, 2019.

Title: Immune activation with a novel immune switch anti-macrophage antibody (anti-Clever-1 mAb; FP-1305) in phase I/II first-in-human MATINS trial in patients with advanced solid tumors

Presenter: Dr. Petri Bono, MATINS trial principal investigator

Abstract Number: 6587

Faron will release further information from the poster and discussion slides to coincide with the start of the official Congress session during which it features.

The full abstract and poster will be made available online at the ESMO Congress website: https://www.esmo.org

About the MATINS study

The MATINS study is the first-in-human open label Phase I/II clinical trial with an adaptive design to investigate the safety and efficacy of Clevegen in selected metastatic or inoperable solid tumours. The selected tumours under investigation are cutaneous melanoma, hepatobiliary/hepatocellular, pancreatic, ovarian and colorectal cancer, all known to host a significant number of Clever-1 positive tumour associated macrophages (TAM). All together these five target groups consist of approximately 2 million annual cases worldwide. Cancer patients with high Clever-1 expression are identified with a simple blood myeloid cell staining with Clevegen ("liquid biopsy").

Part I of the trial deals with tolerability, safety and dose escalation to optimize dosing. As the trial is an open label study, the Company expects to report findings as the dosing progresses. The cohort expansion during part two will focus on identification of patients who show an increased number of Clever-1 positive circulating monocytes and the safety and efficacy of the treatment. The Company has already announced that colorectal cancer (CRC) has been selected as the first expansion cohort in Part II. During Part III, the main focus will be on assessing the efficacy of Clevegen on study subjects who show an increased number of Clever-1 positive circulating monocytes, making the treatment precisely targeted and maximizing the chances of success for efficacy. The treatment, if successful, may ultimately be used as a standalone therapy or in combination with other immunotherapies like PD-1 inhibitors.

For more information please contact:

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy

Dr Markku Jalkanen, Chief Executive Officer

[email protected] 

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, Nomad and Broker

Emma Earl, Freddy Crossley (Corporate Finance)

James Stearns (Corporate Broking)

Phone: +44 207 886 2500

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Lindsey Neville

Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700

E-mail: [email protected]

Westwicke Partners, IR (US)

Chris Brinzey

Phone: 01 339 970 2843

E-Mail: [email protected]

About Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Faron (AIM:FARN) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for medical conditions with significant unmet needs. The Company currently has a pipeline based on the endothelial receptors involved in regulation of immune response, in oncology and organ damage. Clevegen, its precision immunotherapy, is a novel anti-Clever-1 antibody with the ability to switch immune suppression to immune activation in various conditions, with potential across oncology, infectious disease and vaccine development. Currently in phase I/II clinical development as a novel macrophage checkpoint immunotherapy for patients with untreatable solid tumours, Clevegen has potential as a single-agent therapy or in combination with other immune checkpoint molecules. Traumakine, the Company's pipeline candidate to prevent vascular leakage and organ failures, has completed a phase III clinical trial in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and progressing in phase II trial for the Rupture of Abdominal Aorta Aneurysm ("RAAA"). Plans for its future development are being finalised to avoid interfering steroid use together with Traumakine. Faron is based in Turku, Finland. Further information is available at www.faron.com