(Alliance News) - Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy on Wednesday said it is "very encouraged" by the latest results from a cancer treatment.
Turku, Finland-based Faron has been carrying out clinical trials on Clevegen, a cancer immunotherapy targeting metastatic or inoperable solid tumours.
Some of the cancer types Clevegen could be used in include cutaneous melanoma, hepatobiliary/hepatocellular, pancreatic, ovarian, and colorectal.
Clevegen, Faron said, showed decreases in a broad range of checkpoints and also suggested a rise in plasma interferon gamma, which is a tool the immune system uses to fight against cancer.
"We have always believed Clever-1 to be a master regulator of immunity, but we are very encouraged to find Clevegen can down regulate a range of major inhibitory immune checkpoints, that current immuno-oncology therapies aim to suppress," said Chief Executive Markku Jalkanen.
"We intend to carry out further analysis of other Matins patients and aim to understand which combination of immuno-oncology therapies would build the optimal host immune activation for various cancer types or individuals. To have one single and safe treatment as early as possible would improve patient outcome," Jalkanen continued.
"These results indicate Clevegen treatment could potentially allow increased efficacy of other immuno-oncology treatments through the biomarker analysis of patient's blood cells post Clevegen induced immune activation, finally offering a biological rational to guide combination therapies."
Faron shares were 2.5% higher on Wednesday morning in London at a price of 287.00 pence each.
In November, Clevegen received investigational new drug status from the US Food & Drug Administration, which allows clinical trials to be conducted in the country. The Matins trial is currently being carried out in Europe.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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Faron Pharma (FARN)