Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) shares rose on Monday as the firm received an €800,000 grant from Business Finland as part of Cancer IO, a research and innovation consortium to integrate immune-oncology activities between Finnish universities and hospitals.
The AIM-listed firm said the grant will enable state-of-the-art characterisation of immunological responses in its MATINS trial, which is currently investigating the tolerability, safety and efficacy of Faron’s Clevegen precision cancer immunotherapy targeting Clever-1 positive tumour associated macrophages (TAM), in selected metastatic or inoperable solid tumours.
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As part of the Business Finland initiative, Faron also said it will study Clevegen in combination with other anti-cancer molecules in experimental settings with other consortium members.
"We are very pleased to join this leading initiative, which will deepen our understanding of Clevegen's effects during the MATINS trial, enable us to better characterize and understand the immune responses of patients receiving novel treatments, test different therapies in combination with Clevegen in a variety of laboratories and experimental settings, as well as possibly find new leads to take further into development", Faron chief executive Markku Jalkanen said in a statement.
The company’s shares were 3.6% higher at 373p in mid-morning trading.