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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Finnish firm Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy plunged on Tuesday as the company reported "extremely disappointing" results from its flagship Traumakine candidate.
Faron shares were trading at 126.00 pence each Tuesday, down 83%.
In its phase III INTEREST trial for Traumakine, the treatment did not lead to an increase in the number of ventilator free days nor in a reduced mortality rate compared to a placebo.
The drug was being tested as a possible treatment for moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. ARDS, Faron said, has a mortality rate of between 30% and 45%.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Markku Jalkanen said: "We are incredibly disappointed and surprised by these results. We need to further analyse the data in order to understand how this study differs from our previous positive results with ARDS patients, both in terms of Traumakine's efficacy, and in the unusually low mortality rate observed in the placebo arm.
"We look forward to the results of the Japanese study in Q3 2018 and will be considering how we can advance Traumakine in clinical development."
Faron also reported financial results for 2017 on Tuesday, with the company posting a pretax loss of EUR21.1 million for the year compared to EUR10.1 million, due to higher research & development spend.
It posted no revenue, having recorded EUR952,000 the year before which came from a licence agreement cash signing fee.
The company's other candidate, Clevegen, attempts to switch immune suppression to immune activation in various conditions. The focus in 2018 will be to progress Clevegen into first human trials as well as assessing the next steps for Traumakine following the disappointing test results.