Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd (LON:FARN) said it is planning to provide its lead drug on a compassionate use basis once its phase III clinical trial has concluded.
The study, codenamed INTEREST, should be wrapped up in the fourth-quarter.
It was set up to assess the efficacy of Traumakine in treating acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Faron said in its latest release that the independent data monitoring committee (IMDC) overseeing the clinical investigation has said the trial should continue unchanged.
Unment medical need
This is consistent with its four previous recommendations.
Faron plans to treat 300 ARDS patients with Traumakine, which performed well in an earlier phase II clinical study.
ARDS is severe lung condition that often results from pneumonia and has mortality rate of 30-45% with 300,000 cases annually in Europe and the US.
"We are very pleased to receive the IDMC's recommendation that the INTEREST study should continue as planned,” said Faron chief executive, Dr Markku Jalkanen.
“The trial is now moving into its final stages and we look forward to closing recruitment during the fourth quarter of 2017.”
'Cleva' approach
Faron’s pipeline also includes a Clevegen, a pre-clinical drug designed uses the body’s own immune system to tackle cancer.
As the name suggests it does something new and clever that marks out from all the other immuno-oncology treatments coming out of the lab and into early trials.
Consisting of anti-Clever-1 antibody it converts the immune environment around a tumour from being suppressive to immune stimulating.