LONDON (Alliance News) - Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy on Thursday said preliminary biomarker data from its Traumakine phase III trial has produced inconsistent results.
Faron is testing Traumakine in a phase III INTEREST trial for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The Finnish company said the treatment did not produce consistent interferon-beta bioactivity in the treatment group. It did reduce mortality and reduced days on ventilators, and Faron said this data matches results from its phase II study.
Chief Executive Markku Jalkanen said: "We have observed that a sub-group of patients with higher levels of biomarkers in the INTEREST trial did demonstrate reduced mortality and increased ventilator free days, as expected based on the positive phase II study.
"While this is encouraging this still does not explain many of the other results observed from the trial including why Traumakine activity was variable in the INTEREST trial compared to previous studies nor the low mortality of the placebo group. This analysis will continue, and we will keep our shareholders and the market informed with progress in due course."
In early May, Faron had reported "extremely disappointing" phase III results for Traumakine compared to a placebo.
Shares were 20% lower on Thursday at 90.20 pence each. In April, they reached as higher as 850.00p.
Faron Pharmaceuticals (FARN)