Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited (AIM:FARN), the Finnish clinical-stage biotechnology company, says it is in active commercial discussions with potential pharmaceutical partners as it looks to advance bexmarilimab, its lead drug candidate for a rare and difficult-to-treat blood cancer.
The company, whose shares trade on the AIM market in London and on Nasdaq Helsinki, said in its full-year results for 2025 that it "remains constantly engaged in in-depth commercial discussions," and that it is confident of finding the right partnership "when the time is right."
The disclosure comes as Faron prepares to raise approximately €40 million through a rights issue, having received shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting earlier this week (Mar 2) to issue up to 80 million new shares.
Bexmarilimab is being developed as a treatment for higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (HR MDS), a bone marrow disorder in which the body fails to produce enough healthy blood cells and which carries a high risk of progression to acute leukaemia.
The drug works by targeting macrophages, immune cells that can suppress the body's ability to fight cancer, in what Faron describes as a novel immunotherapy approach distinct from the checkpoint inhibitors that have dominated oncology in recent years.
Clinical data from the BEXMAB Phase I/II trial, presented at four major medical congresses in 2025, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, showed response rates that Faron said were "among the highest ever reported in HR MDS prospective trials."
Both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted bexmarilimab orphan drug designation for MDS during the year, providing regulatory assistance and market exclusivity benefits following any eventual approval.
Following an end-of-phase-II meeting with the FDA last summer, Faron said it received a "clear and actionable path" for a registrational phase II/III study in frontline HR MDS.
However, the company said it has decided to separate the phase II and phase III parts of the trial rather than run them seamlessly, in order to unblind and analyse results before making final adjustments to the confirmatory study.
Chief executive Juho Jalkanen said this approach was informed by competitors' past phase III failures in HR MDS, notably the VERONA trial, and offered shareholders "a new considerable value inflexion point."
Faron also said it is planning a series of investigator-initiated trials in solid tumours, including breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma and sarcoma, requiring minimal financial outlay from the company.
The operating loss for the year widened slightly to €19.0 million from €18.7 million, with cash of €12.3 million on the balance sheet at 31 December 2025.