Faron Pharmaceuticals - Innovatiivisia lääketieteen ratkaisuja (Osa 2)

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This was a recruitment event, Biobridge Oct 31, 2024, not investor communication. The target audience is life science students, doctoral researchers, and postdocs.

I don’t know if there was some higher guidance involved, but I used the TurboScribe app to record what was said after watching it earlier, and the text begins like this:

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Back to earthly matters and with the content reviewed, Pekka God a.k.a. Petri Bono, here are some highlights, some of which may be familiar to many:

BEXMAB-02 i.e., phase 2/3 MDS: ”This will be run in 90 to 100 cancer sites in three different continents, meaning a lot of work is required.”

”We have already selected our CRO that we will work together, and as a small biotech so we have selected a giant CRO to support us”

”And then, of course, in 2027, we will start to get the first results of these solid tumor combination trials. And then also want to mention that it’s not possible to do anything alone. You need good investigators, good network of people, and you need a good scientific board.

”We have two scientific boards. We have one for heme, one for solid tumors, and really top-notch leaders participating, guiding us what to do next, because they are in the forefront of the new treatments. They know exactly what’s happening in the field.

And then in the solid tumors, I’m super excited to tell that, for example, in ESMO two weeks ago, the scientific chair of the whole ESMO with 36,000 participants was Tony Choueiri from Harvard. So Tony is in our scientific board. When established the new thing called scientific board, when I called him he said, you know, Petri, I get an invitation to a board every single week, and I can only select a certain number of boards. But your stuff is so exciting that, of course, I want to join you.

And so then also the other solid tumor member, is from Gustave Roussy the largest European cancer center in Paris, and Dr. Massard from there, and then Tom Powles who is from London, and who TIME voted in 2023 among the top 10 scientists in the world, not just within medicine, but within all areas * So with these guys, we present our data, our plans, and get, of course, feedback from them that how to move forward, what trials to make, what is then relevant when you get the results, because the results are not immediately there.”

*according to other sources, Powles has been on the TIME100 Health list in 2024, but Nature Nature’s Top 10 people who shaped science in 2023.

Faron already issued a stock exchange release about the SAB on Oct 22, 2024 https://faron.com/releases-and-publications/farons-capital-markets-day-2024/

Provided a further explanation of the individuals at Capital Markets Day on Oct 22, 2024 https://www.inderes.fi/videos/faron-pharmaceuticals-capital-markets-day-2024, at 01:41:14. Thus, the claim that there has been no communication about this SAB either is incorrect.

We already know the blood cancer experts Daver, Kontro, and Zeidan from the BEXMAB releases. Cancers are roughly divided into blood cancers (MDS, leukemias, lymphomas) and solid tumors, which are divided into carcinomas originating from the epithelium (e.g., melanoma, lung cancers) and connective tissue cancers, i.e., sarcomas. So, the solid tumor members are the aforementioned Choueiri, Massard, and Powles.

Even the three wise men of the West don’t guarantee the success of Bex in solid tumors, but at least proving efficacy won’t fail due to a lack of knowledge or insight.

”You can pretty easily do your maths that we are a growing company, and we do have openings in clinical operations, regulatory affairs, CMC teams. One third of our people are based in the UK at the moment.”

As expected, Petri Bono praises Faron as an employer / the level of science. There is confidence; for instance, growth is being communicated in an environment where a potential partner might also be present.

The same confidence hasn’t spread to investors. HCM received over 450,000 shares as a loan repayment by Jan 12, i.e., today, and they can dump them onto the market quickly, while naturally being careful of the downward effect during their sale.

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It’s still quiet on Faron’s calendar for this year.

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Maybe those post-JPM events will also be canceled and the communications will be handed over to some other outfit, perhaps as early as this week. Any comments?

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I would apply a fairly recent comment from the London side regarding Faron’s apparent news blackout:

“Faron is finalizing either a deal or a new funding round”

If I recall correctly, JJ is appearing at JPM on Tue at 20:30..21:00 (Finnish time) (it’s a JPM side event for dealmakers). One would think something will be announced either before or at the latest then.

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It might have been on Karo’s Grill when Jalkanen stated, less than a year ago, that the money wouldn’t run out for a while.

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And now the situation is exactly the same. The cash reserves won’t be empty again for a while. And on the other hand, recent news, EU funding, and the patent situation of pharmaceutical companies suggest that the money isn’t going to run out anytime soon.

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A joint publication by Harvard/Columbia and Faron explains why PD-1 does not work if the tumor’s myeloid lock is closed. T or NK cells cannot be awakened by PD-1 inhibition alone.

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Did you perhaps mean the Gabrilovich piece posted by Juho regarding the lock created by MDSCs and other myeloid suppressors such as M2 macrophages?

The case here is a review article in a basic-level journal, with a Harvard researcher as the author and a Harvard professor as the corresponding researcher. Juho and Spicer are among the contributors. They did, after all, get their names on Faron’s granted patent for Traumakine on Nov 18, 2025.

It is a review of what is known and how the organ damage of critically ill patients could be affected by modifying the purinergic cascade (ATP → ADP → AMP → Adenosine), and the review introduces several other possible treatments and drug candidates besides interferon beta, i.e., Traumakine.

Traumakine could be one stage in the treatment, perhaps in combination therapy, while selecting patients. Avoiding corticosteroids at the same time.

It has been speculated before that this asset has some value even without studies, and after studies, the value would be clearly higher or clearly lower. Whether to take the risk to find out, that is the question.

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Yeah, this is primarily a review of critical inflammatory conditions, not a cancer paper. Cancer and PD-1 are only mentioned in passing, but on the other hand, the described myeloid lock is the same mechanism that explains PD-1 resistance in tumors.
Traumakine increases IFN from the outside, but similarly, Bex aims to break the lock so that the body’s own IFN response is triggered.

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I’m on the same page. Faron is politely declining all comments and interviews; Inderes, Redeye, etc., can’t get any leads from anywhere. It’s been quiet for quite some time now.
More money was recently secured, which suggests that negotiations are ongoing and more cash is needed for at least a few more weeks of negotiations/preparations.
In my opinion:

  1. The situation remains the same: BP (Big Pharma) is in no hurry to make a deal: the more time passes, the better their negotiating position, and
  2. Radio silence, on the other hand, suggests that some kind of approach has indeed occurred and/or a financing solution is being hammered out.
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Good reflections. I’ve reached pretty much the same conclusion myself. Although the silence has been a bit painful for the investor, I assume things have moved forward behind the scenes.

One would assume the announcement of the CRO appointment might be the next move, perhaps already at JPMorgan; the reasoning being, would the entire top management quartet go to Morgan just to hang out, or is it time to take the next step and move the process/strategy forward?

Someone here also hinted at the CRO; I think it was even in some of Bono’s materials that in October 2025 Bono mentioned that the CRO had already been selected.

Assuming that things are being negotiated with BP (Big Pharma), I would assume that the CRO would be in the interest of both, and perhaps BP would hint between the lines which CRO they would want. I can’t say the price of that CRO, someone guessed 10 million? I’d assume monthly pricing, in which case Faron’s cash position would, at least initially, withstand that monthly cost of just under 0.5-1 million euros. More knowledgeable people can correct me.

Then again, it could also happen that we’re disappointed again and the can is kicked down the road. There have been several of these “showcases” since last summer where we’ve been waiting for “big news.”

Everyone else, throw out your thoughts on what you expect from JPMorgan or otherwise from the company during Q1. What happens next or how will things progress?

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From what I’ve read about that CRO, the startup and the first few months are the most expensive time. We’re talking about millions in this case for the initial months. If this outfit is world-class, they would hardly jump on board if they doubted Faron’s solvency. Hopefully, this will be announced soon. At least it would significantly boost my confidence if it’s a good company (AI gave 3 options with justifications that stand out from the rest). Financing will surely be arranged for Faron, but an offering with its discounts and dilutions would be a major disappointment for me as a long-term owner. The schedule for partnering has certainly stretched, and spring will be here soon enough, which is when the purse starts to be empty again. In my mind, I’m weighing an offering and partnering as financing solutions on a 50/50 basis. This silence could be due to either option. Well, time will tell what happens…

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Adding some more irresponsible speculation to the thread again, but I’ve been reading through these JPM26 day one updates. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/fierce-pharmas-jpm26-tracker-day-1

“As for business development, Gilead has been involved in some of the behind-the-scenes discussions surrounding recent deals in the industry, CFO Andy Dickinson said during the Q&A portion of Gilead’s presentation. Those talks didn’t materialize for one reason or another, but Gilead continues to explore “small to medium” deals to bolster its current portfolio, the CFO said.”

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Nerve-wracking silence. If the CRO is announced, I believe the deal is all but signed. I don’t believe in a partner announcement until the EU funding is resolved. All BPs are constantly negotiating - most discussions end in a NOGO. The deal that gets activated will be announced calmly at the best possible time. Faron’s cash and roadmap will last for another 1-2 months, so assuming everything is clear, we will get news in February at the earliest. Miracles won’t happen in this timeframe anymore, so the quartet is either moving around the deal or saying goodbye to the whole scene. I don’t personally believe the latter, though.
I would remind you here that cool heads win hot games. We are already in “overtime”…

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Is there actual information that interview requests are being categorically refused, or is this your own conclusion based on the ‘silence’ (which is also partly explained by the Christmas holidays, of course)?

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I was wondering about this; Redeye has probably been asked about interest to participate, but Faron is not on the list:

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Doesn’t seem to be Sweden’s own Hamlet either.

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