Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited (AIM:FARN, OTC:FPHAF) has provided investors with encouraging additional phase I/II data on its cancer drug candidate, bexmarilimab.
The treatment is being tested in combination with standard treatments for patients with relapsed or unresponsive acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
The latest findings show promising responses in patients from the study, including two objective responses and two stable disease patients in the second doublet cohort.
The first doublet cohort also showed promising results, with two patients remaining in the study after 10 and nine months, respectively. One patient from this group has even undergone potentially curative transplantation.
In a statement Faron's chief medical officer, Marie-Louise Fjällskog, said: "We are extremely encouraged by the continued efficacy of bexmarilimab and the long duration of the responses seen so far."
She also highlighted the success of an MDS patient who did not respond to previous therapy but is now undergoing potentially curative transplantation with the addition of bexmarilimab.
Faron plans to seek FDA advice during the third quarter on a potential path to a Biologics License Application (BLA) submission; it will initiate the study's phase II trial sometime in the second half.
Faron chief executive, Dr Markku Jalkanen, said the latest data is a powerful indication of bexmarilimab's therapeutic potential in blood-related cancers.