Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) is raising £10mln from a small pool of institutional investors – cash that will be used to fund an early access programme for its lead drug, Traumakine.
Shares are being issued at 800p each, which is a modest 2% discount to Wednesday’s closing price. The company will receive £9.4mln once the costs of the fundraise are deducted.
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This will be ploughed into preparations to commercialise Traumakine, a drug used to treat acute respiratory distress, which is currently undergoing a phase III clinical study.
Alongside that it plans an expanded access (or compassionate use) programme for Traumakine if it successfully negotiates the final-stage trial.
The injection will also be used to expand the clinical development of Clevegen, an immuno-oncology drug.
Regulatory thumbs up
On Monday, it was announced the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given it a Promising Innovative Medicines (PIM) designation to Traumakine.
This is the first stage of the MHRA's Early Access Medicines Scheme (EAMS), which, as the name suggests, attempts to take promising new treatments to patients earlier than they might normally get there.
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The fast-tracking tends to be for drugs that address an unmet need. The scheme also allows for early pricing negotiation with the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).