For many decades, cancer has confounded the medical and scientific community, with myriad mutations making it very hard to treat. Cancer is not a single disease but a group of diseases affecting different body parts. A different set of mutations causes each tumor, so a drug that works for a particular type of cancer or an individual patient may be absolutely ineffective on another.
As scientists learn more about cancer and new mutations, including treatment-resistant cancers, there is a need to find more cancer treatments by exploring additional avenues and applying innovative technologies. Many older treatments, such as many forms of chemotherapy, have a toxic effect, as these can kill healthy tissues alongside the cancer cells. This means finding less toxic treatments with less severe side effects on patients is important.
Faron Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Finland, is one of the entities developing new immunotherapy-based treatments for cancer by using biological molecules and stimulating the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Its flagship project is the development of bexmarilimab (bex), a humanized monoclonal antibody molecule being trialed in treating several treatment-resistant cancers, including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), an aggressive form of leukemia. Bex works by binding to Clever-1, an immunosuppressive scavenger receptor found on macrophages that prevents them from normally presenting the cancer cells they capture to the immune system. By binding to Clever-1, bex allows the immune system to attack the tumor cells, reducing or eliminating its size.
Bex is currently in its Phase I/II clinical trial, with funding secured to complete Phase II and plans to move to Phase III through the FDA’s accelerated approval process.
Faron is a family-based company founded in 2007 by Drs. Markku and Sirpa Jalkanen, two postdoctoral Stanford University graduates who moved back to Finland to start multiple biotechnology businesses. Their son, Dr. Juho Jalkanen, MD, PhD, is the company’s current CEO, while their daughter, Dr. Maija Hollmén, PhD, is the company’s chief scientific officer.
Dr. Juho, who also holds a degree in business, wrote the company’s business plan, which centers on taking promising academic discoveries in biopharmacology and creating tangible drug development programs out of them. According to him, many scientists lack the entrepreneurial expertise to commercialize discoveries that could benefit humanity, and Faron’s goal is to help bring these discoveries to market. He adds that Faron’s name comes from the words “far” and “on,” reflecting its slogan of “taking innovations further.”
However, this process isn’t as straightforward as scientists, Faron, and patients desire. Dr. Juho says that Faron had been working on a different clinical program before focusing on bex. This involved CD73, a key molecule for protecting the endothelium, or the inner layer of the blood vessels. This prevents leakage of the endothelium caused by trauma or severe respiratory infections, such as COVID-19 and influenza. In the case of COVID-19, the excessive inflammatory reactions cause capillaries to start leaking into organs, causing damage and possibly death. Faron, who was studying CD73 even before the COVID pandemic, found that the best way to introduce the molecule to the body’s system is via interferon beta, which is produced by the body as a natural response to viral infections.
According to Dr. Juho, while CD73 would have been instrumental as a COVID treatment, Faron discovered that interferon beta was being rendered ineffective by steroids and used inappropriately as a subcutaneous formulation instead of intravenously and acting on the endothelium. With many patients already taking steroids, the clinical trial for CD73 for respiratory infections was shelved. However, not everything was lost, as Faron is now studying the use of CD73 in conjunction with the CAR T cancer treatment.
Dr. Juho explains that CAR T treatment involves taking T cells, which attack specific antigens, engineering them to hunt for a specific cancer, and reintroducing them to the patient’s body. These new T cells will hunt down the cancer cells and kill the tumor. However, this treatment is so effective that it can cause cytokine release and hyperinflammation, which can be risky to the patient’s life. As a result, the treatment is often used only with younger patients who are more likely to withstand the significant side effects.
“We are planning a study in conjunction with a major cancer center in the US, where we will administer interferon beta before starting the CAR T treatment to see if it can protect the patient’s vasculature from the cytokine release and naturally prevent severe side effects. If this holds true, then the CAR T cancer treatment can be more widely used, helping more people overcome cancer,” Dr. Juho says.
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Published By: Aize Perez
