Finnish drug developer Faron Pharmaceutical Ltd (LON:FARN) is to broaden the scope of cancer treatment Clevegen after promising pre-clinical results
Clevegen is a novel cancer treatment that produces a antibody that converts the immune environment around a tumour from being immune suppressive to immune stimulating.
This immuno-oncology approach is called TIET (Tumour Immunity Enabling Technology), but Markku Jalkanen, Faron’s founder and chief executive, believes Clevegen can be effective as an immune system booster in other chronic cancer conditions as well.
Liver cancer is potentially a key target for the programme, he said ahead of a capital markets day.
“Our board fully recognise the potential of Clevegen towards several non-tumoural indications.
“Our scientific collaborators are already exploring these new CIRT [Chronic Infection Removal Therapy] and VRET[ Vaccination Response Enhancement Technology] technologies in order to provide pre-clinical data for our clinical plans.”
“Faron will now introduce two additional technology platforms to cover these exciting development areas and starts to promote their development and use worldwide,” he said.
The aim will be to find partners for all three of these applications alongside its own development programme.
Meanwhile, lead product Traumakine, a treatment for ARDS or acute respiratory distress syndrome, is already in a phase III trial in Europe.
ARDS is little known condition can affect people of any age and usually develops as a complication of an existing serious illness such as flu, pneumonia, sepsis or even severe trauma.
The group announced a tie-up with Korean firm Pharmbio yesterday to boost its presence in Asia.
Faron added it also intends to file Traumakine to the Finnish Medicines Agency later this year on patients suffering from rupture of abdominal aorta aneurysm and operated surgically, while it is preparing plans for a safety trial in the US.