Faron
Pharmaceuticals Oy
("Faron"
or the "Company")
Inside Information: Update on
financial status
·
Further cash
preservation extends runway into Q3/2024
·
Understanding on
conditional Waiver Extension reached with IPF, covering the Company
until end of June 2024 to conduct the planned activities securing
the further development of bexmarilimab in HMA-failed
MDS
Company announcement, 30 April 2024
at 16:00 (EEST) / 14:00 (BST) / 9:00 AM (EDT)
Inside information
TURKU, FINLAND / BOSTON,
MA - Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (AIM: FARN,
First North: FARON), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
pursuing a CLEVER approach to reprogramming myeloid cells to
activate anti-tumor immunity in hematological and solid tumor
microenvironments, today announces that it has reached an
understanding with its lender IPF Fund II SCA, SICAV-FIAR ("IPF"),
an extension to the waiver that it originally announced on 4 March
2024 ("Waiver Extension"). With the Waiver Extension the Company
continues to finalize its preparations to secure longer term
funding.
The Waiver Extension is conditional
on certain terms, those being, among others, (i) the minimum cash
covenant being set to 6.0 million euros until 20 May 2024 and
thereafter, subject to continued clinical success with the BEXMAB
trial, (ii) first decreasing to 5.5 million euros on 21 May 2024
and (iii) then to 4.5 million euros on 12 June 2024 until a minimum
equity raise of 10 million euros has been cashed in. As a part of
the understanding on the Waiver Extension terms, IPF will receive a
waiver fee and additional new warrants amounting to 500 000
euros in total with a strike price of the lower of 1.50 euros and
the last 3 trading days VWAP preceding the issuance of the
warrants. The warrants are expected to be issued and related
actions completed by 15 May 2024. The
Waiver Extension will be valid until 27 June 2024 at maximum,
subject to terms above being followed and the Company securing
subscriptions or guarantees for a public offer in the amount of 10
million euros by 11 June 2024, unless other financing of the same
value is secured prior to that. Thereafter the minimum cash
covenant will return to its normal level. On the date of this
announcement IPF holds a number of warrants, which if converted
into shares in the Company, would correspond to 1.4% of the current
total number of shares in the Company.
The Company has completed
significant cash preservation actions during the past few months
and expects to have cash runway into Q3/2024. Faron's incoming
Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Juho Jalkanen, says: "I want to truly
thank all our vendors, employees, IPF and everybody involved. These
decisions and actions are never easy, but it really feels like a
true group effort that has come together to back the development of
bexmarilimab for
HMA-failed MDS. We are deeply grateful". Dr. Jalkanen will start in
his new position on 1 May 2024.
The Company continues its active
endeavors to secure its longer-term funding that would take
bexmarilimab into a
pivotal trial post the US Food and Drug Administration's advice and
partnership for commercialization. As previously announced the
Company is planning to publish initial data from the ongoing Phase
II part of the BEXMAB trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy of
bexmarilimab in
combination with standard of care in patients with hypomethylating
agents refractory or relapsed myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS),
during the week commencing 20 May 2024.
For
more information please contact:
Faron Pharmaceuticals
Investor Contact
LifeSci Advisors
Daniel Ferry
Managing Director
daniel@lifesciadvisors.com
+1 (617) 430-7576
ICR Consilium
Mary-Jane Elliott, David Daley, Lindsey
Neville
Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
E-mail: faron@consilium-comms.com
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP,
Nomad
Sandy Jamieson, Jo Turner
Phone: +44 (0) 207 213
0880
Peel Hunt LLP, Broker
Christopher Golden, James
Steel
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7418
8900
Sisu Partners Oy, Certified Adviser
on Nasdaq First North
Juha Karttunen
Phone: +358 (0)40 555
4727
Jukka Järvelä
Phone: +358 (0)50 553
8990
About Faron Pharmaceuticals
Oy
Faron (AIM: FARN, First North:
FARON) is a global, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company,
focused on tackling cancers via novel immunotherapies. Its mission
is to bring the promise of immunotherapy to a broader population by
uncovering novel ways to control and harness the power of the
immune system. The Company's lead asset is bexmarilimab, a novel
anti-Clever-1 humanized antibody, with the potential to remove
immunosuppression of cancers through targeting myeloid cell
function. Bexmarilimab is being investigated in Phase I/II clinical
trials as a potential therapy for patients with hematological
cancers in combination with other standard treatments and as a
monotherapy in last line solid cancers. Further information is
available at www.faron.com.