Boutique investment bank Peel Hunt has lauded the preliminary clinical findings from Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited (AIM:FARN, OTC:FPHAF), terming them as 'highly encouraging.'
The data comes from an interim analysis of the BEXMAB study, a Phase I/II trial assessing the effectiveness of bexmarilimab in treating acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), both challenging blood disorders often unresponsive to conventional therapies.
The study demonstrated that bexmarilimab achieved a remission rate of 50% among 22 patients who had either relapsed or were unresponsive to standard treatments, including hypomethylating agents (HMAs).
Notably, eight patients attained complete remission, a significant outcome given their prior resistance to standard therapies.
Moreover, bexmarilimab showed exceptional efficacy in a subgroup of patients who had not responded to HMAs, with four out of five patients exhibiting a positive response—an 80% overall response rate. This suggests that bexmarilimab could serve as a new treatment alternative for patients who have run out of other options.
Peel Hunt said: "We agree with the company that these data updates continue to be very promising for bexmarilimab, potentially proving patients with superior outcomes vs the standard of care (or where it has already failed).
“In our view, today's update is clearly an incremental positive as the company builds more data.”
At 12.45 pm, the shares were trading sideways at 353p. Peel Hunt reckons the stock is a ‘buy’ up to 417p.