Finnish biotech launches fully committed rights issue to advance bexmarilimab in rare bone marrow condition and five investigator-led cancer studies
Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited (AIM:FARN), the AIM and Nasdaq-listed Finnish biotech, has launched a fully committed €40 million rights issue to fund a randomised clinical trial of its lead drug bexmarilimab in a rare and aggressive blood cancer, and to extend its financial runway to November 2027.
The company, which currently has working capital only until mid-April 2026, will use net proceeds of approximately €32.8 million primarily to run a 90-patient phase II trial of bexmarilimab combined with azacitidine, a standard chemotherapy agent, in frontline high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (HR MDS), a bone marrow disorder in which the marrow fails to produce enough healthy blood cells.
The trial is designed to generate data capable of supporting regulatory submissions, with Faron targeting several milestones, including a complete response rate readout, determination of the recommended Phase III dose, and a meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss whether complete response could serve as an approval endpoint.
Beyond HR MDS, Faron intends to use proceeds to support up to five investigator-initiated trials exploring bexmarilimab in combination with other treatments across a range of cancers, including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer, relapsed or refractory MDS, and acute myeloid leukaemia.
Bexmarilimab works by targeting macrophages, immune cells that some cancers exploit to evade attack, and Faron believes it may prove effective across multiple tumour types where this resistance mechanism is present.
The fundraise is fully covered by commitments, with €11.76 million in subscription and cornerstone commitments already secured, including from Blood Cancer United Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), a long-term shareholder, and a further €28.32 million committed by guarantee investors who have agreed to cover any shortfall.
Juho Jalkanen, chief executive of Faron, said data from the company's open-label BEXMAB Phase I/II trial and recent developments in the HR MDS field had placed the company in a strong position and that the raise would allow it to deliver a placebo-controlled dataset for both regulatory and commercial purposes.
The offer price of €0.50 per share represents a discount of 7.54% to the theoretical ex-rights price, based on Faron's closing price of €0.569 on Nasdaq Helsinki on 9 March 2026.