Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (AIM:FARN, OTC:FPHAF) has secured up to €30mln in debt finance that will enable it to fast-track the development of its cancer treatment bexmarilimab.
Available in three tranches, the first €10mln from IPF Partners will fund the company to the fourth quarter of this year, while an additional €5mln will get it to March 31 next year.
At this point it hopes to have received an approval from the Food & Drug Administration regarding the protocol for a pivotal clinical trial of bexmarilimab, investors were told.
"This financing agreement will notably help us continue to accelerate our ambitious bexmarilimab development programme, which has the potential to bring the promise of immunotherapy to a much broader patient population compared to the relatively small percentage of cancer patients benefiting from checkpoint inhibitor therapies today," said Faron chief executive, Dr Markku Jalkanen.
This year will be “critical” for the bexmarilimab, he added.
- The company is expecting updated survival and biomarker data from its phase I/II MATINS trial
- It will initiate its first hematologic phase I/II trial
- It is planning to assess bexmarilimab in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor drug
- And it is meeting with the US FDA to discuss its data and path towards a regulatory filing
Last week Faron reported further encouraging results from its MATINS trial suggestive of longer survival rates for late-stage cancer sufferers treated with bexmarilimab.
Updated results from the ongoing phase I/II MATINS trial showed 70% of patients receiving the drug had survived nine months compared with 26% for those not treated.
Returning to Monday’s announcement, the coupon on the debt will be nine percentage points above the three-month European interbank rate.
IPF also has special rights to subscribe for new shares against payment for seven years from drawdown.