Let’s start a dedicated thread for this as well. A new pharmaceutical company on the First North list via a dual listing. A nice addition to the Helsinki Stock Exchange 
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The top 10 owners are now visible on the company page: Faron Pharmaceuticals - osake - Inderes
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Lottery tickets 
Only JNJ is in my portfolio. Otherwise, I go purely through ETFs if I absolutely have to invest in an industry.
But fortune favors the bold (someone other than me)
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I really don’t want to be a negative nerd again, but when you first list abroad, then seek funding from a limited group of investors, then seek from a group of private investors, and even from Finland, my nose always catches a faint whiff of manure 
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We’re trying to get the CEO for an interview. 
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But will additional funding be sought from Finland? Isn’t this just a parallel listing for visibility and such?
Funds are sufficient for the first quarter. Since there are no sales and costs are running, cash is depleting quickly.
Faron has secured financing for the next 12 months after a funding round in November, which is also a prerequisite for listing on First North. Additional funding was not sought in connection with the First North listing, and apparently will not be sought in the near future, as Faron committed in the previous funding round not to issue new shares for at least the next 6 months.
All information can be found in AIM stock exchange releases. These releases also indicate that Faron is negotiating license agreements with several partners concerning the immune cancer drug Clevegen, and these negotiations are intended to be concluded in the coming months. Agreements of this type are usually substantial, so the company has enormous potential if they can secure a license agreement/agreements.
It’s advisable to thoroughly research the company before commenting. DYOR.
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My mistake. I didn’t notice that announcement, but only said what was mentioned in the last interim report. That is, money is running out and more is needed. Good, however, if the the matter is taken care of for a while.
Development work is, however, expensive and becomes more expensive without the certainty of getting anything marketable to the market. There haven’t been many of these companies in Finland, and the matter is certainly new to most forum members. The risk of losing a significant part of capital is very likely in these companies, and hardly anyone has the expertise to assess whether the drug will be brought to market as phase studies progress.
From this point of view, expanding the funding base is important. However, I have doubts when OMXH Helsinki is skipped and a listing is sought here at a later stage. A healthy suspicion is always good.
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Originally, the intention was probably to list abroad and go all the way with Traumakine, but since that failed in Phase 3 for the main indication, other possibilities have also needed to be explored. This is mostly a gut feeling, but if Traumakine had succeeded, I doubt they would have sought a parallel listing here.
What do forum members think about today’s MATINS update? I, for one, interpret this as another positive message regarding that study.
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I noticed this news today. I think this is a continuation of the production update announced in October?
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I started looking into Farnon Pharmaceuticals a bit more. So far, I’ve invested in companies whose financial statements clearly show more revenue than expenses, so this would be a complete opposite to that group. In any case, it could be more of a charity than an investment, but it would challenge me to step completely outside my area of expertise 
Could there be any rational reasons to invest in such a pharmaceutical company?
I found an interesting blog that discusses investing in pharmaceutical companies. I haven’t had time to read it much yet, but I thought I’d share a couple of things here for others to enjoy 
I also found a couple of videos about Faron on YouTube that weren’t on the company’s own website.
Hot off the press 
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/faron/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?newsid=1358299&cid=2223
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I put a small position on this myself today. There’s potential for it to rise a lot and quickly. I don’t know how sensible that is. At least the money will hopefully go to a good cause if it goes.
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A bit of the same thoughts here. I read somewhere in an investment book or heard through a podcast that you won’t develop in investing if you never challenge yourself outside your comfort zone. I like to delve into things, so if I put a little money into this with a “charity” principle, at least I’ll get to study something unfamiliar to me again.
Faron has an active support group here. They are eagerly awaiting more good news.
https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=FARN&share=Faron-Pharma
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https://m.fi.investing.com/equities/faron-pharmaceuticals-Oy I sometimes check the course there. You can also see that there is currently a strong buy recommendation.
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Faron has also renewed their website
I’ll buy a small position tomorrow to keep my interest up.
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What do you think of Faron’s new website?
I liked that the Pipeline section now shows all ongoing studies very clearly and at what stage they are.
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A new RNS announcement from Faron today. I haven’t seen it on their website yet, so I’m copying it here. For the short time I’ve been following Faron, RNS announcements generate excitement and the share price goes up nicely if the news is positive. If I understand correctly, the drug is now being tested for a possible new target group?
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy
(“Faron” or the “Company”)
MATINS TRIAL UPDATE
Ovarian cancer selected as second expansion cohort
Company announcement, 27 January 2020 at 9.00 AM (EET)
Inside information
TURKU - FINLAND - Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (AIM: FARN, First North: FARON), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today announces that the second expansion cohort in its phase I/II MATINS clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of Clevegen will be in patients with ovarian cancer.
The ongoing phase I/II MATINS clinical trial is investigating the tolerability, safety and efficacy of Clevegen, Faron’s wholly-owned novel precision cancer immunotherapy targeting Clever-1 positive tumour associated macrophages (TAM), in selected metastatic or inoperable solid tumours.
Initiation of this second expansion cohort follows approval from the MATINS trial’s data monitoring committee earlier this month to initiate the study’s first expansion cohort in patients suffering from late-stage colorectal cancer (CRC). Ovarian cancer is a tumour type known to host a significant number of Clever-1 positive tumour associated macrophages (TAM). It presents a high unmet medical need with few available treatments for patients. Large transcript analysis of ovarian tumours indicates significant outcome differences between patients with either high or low Clever-1 expression. Patients with high Clever-1 expression have short life expectancies under current treatment options.
Dr. Markku Jalkanen, Faron’s CEO, said: “Data collected so far in the MATINS trial are highly encouraging, with Clevegen establishing itself as a potential immunotherapy capable of downregulating a range of major inhibitory immune checkpoints (PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4) across several cancers. Initiation of this additional expansion cohort signals our commitment to rapidly progress the development of Clevegen in patients with limited effective treatment options.”
Dr. Tyler Curiel, Professor and The Daisy M. Skinner President’s Chair in Cancer Immunology Research, UT Health San Antonio, and MATINS trial site investigator and principal investigator for USA, said: “Ovarian cancer is devastating and there remains a huge need for new treatments. Expanding the MATINS trial to include ovarian cancer patients will help us to understand this novel potential immunotherapy in a patient group where we desperately need to improve outcomes. We are very excited to join the MATINS trial and to start US recruitment.”
Existing MATINS trial sites in Europe are currently recruiting for the first expansion cohort in late-stage CRC patients and this second cohort, in a total of 10 patients with ovarian cancer, is expected to follow in the coming weeks. With good tolerability and no dose limiting toxicity signals established across all dosing levels explored in the MATINS trial to date, the dosing for this additional cohort is likely to be higher (e.g. 1 mg/kg) than for the first CRC cohort. MATINS trial sites in the US are expected to begin opening in the short term.
Primarily intended to investigate safety and tolerability, the completed Part I of the MATINS trial has already shown that Clevegen administration promoted immune activation in all of the dosed patients to date. This would potentially make Clevegen a new and effective macrophage immune checkpoint drug for cancer patients, who frequently suffer from supressed immune capacity toward tumour elimination. Previously announced data also indicate that Clevegen can down regulate a range of major inhibitory immune checkpoints, that current immuno-oncology therapies aim to suppress.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (“MAR”).
For more information please contact:
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy
Dr Markku Jalkanen, Chief Executive Officer
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, Nomad and Broker
Emma Earl, Freddy Crossley (Corporate Finance)
James Stearns (Corporate Broking)
Phone: +44 207 886 2500
Sisu Partners Oy, Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North
Juha Karttunen, Jussi Majamaa
Phone: +358 (0)40 555 4727
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Lindsey Neville
Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
E-mail: faron@consilium-comms.com
About the MATINS study
The MATINS study is the first-in-human open label Phase I/II clinical trial with an adaptive design to investigate the safety and efficacy of Clevegen in selected metastatic or inoperable solid tumours. The selected tumours under investigation are cutaneous melanoma, hepatobiliary/hepatocellular, pancreatic, ovarian and colorectal cancer, all known to host a significant number of Clever-1 positive tumour associated macrophages (TAM). All together these five target groups consist of approximately 2 million annual cases worldwide. Cancer patients with high Clever-1 expression are identified with a simple blood myeloid cell staining with Clevegen (“liquid biopsy”).
Part I of the trial deals with tolerability, safety and dose escalation to optimize dosing. As the trial is an open label study, the Company expects to report findings as the dosing progresses. The cohort expansion during Part II will focus on identification of patients who show an increased number of Clever-1 positive circulating monocytes and the safety and efficacy of the treatment. Colorectal cancer and ovarian cancer have been selected as the first and second expansion cohorts in Part II. During Part III, the main focus will be on assessing the efficacy of Clevegen on study subjects who show an increased number of Clever-1 positive circulating monocytes, making the treatment precisely targeted and maximizing the chances of success for efficacy. The treatment, if successful, may ultimately be used as a standalone therapy or in combination with other immunotherapies like PD-1 inhibitors.