Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd on Thursday said its interim loss widened, as the company reported higher research and administrative expenses and remained revenue-less.

Pretax loss in the six months to June 30 widened to €13.1 million from €10.6 million a year prior.

The Turku, Finland-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company did not make any revenue in all of 2021, nor in the first half of 2022.

Administrative costs grew to €3.8 million from €2.6 million. Research & development expenses widened to €10.0 million from €9.0 million.

Despite the wider loss, Faron’s cash balance grew to €9.9 million from €7.0 million, having raised €5.0 million by issuing 2.0 million new shares during the period.

The company highlighted its cancer-focused antibody bexmarilimab.

‘New data reinforces bexmarilimab’s potential to bring the promise of immunotherapy to cancer patients who are currently not benefiting from approved checkpoint inhibitors,’ Faron said.

Further, it cited a Phase I-II study showing a 100% survival rate over 12 months for patients with a form of skin cancer and patients with a form of bile duct cancer who were treated with the antigen. This compared to a just 6% 12-month survival rate for patients with the cancers that did not receive the antibody. The ‘checkpoint’ cancers are specifically refractory melanoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Bile ducts are thin tubes that go from the liver to the small intestine, helping with the digestion of fats in food.

Faron highlighted ‘significant worldwide expansion of bexmarilimab epitope patents which now cover more than 90% of pharmaceutical markets until at least 2037’. Epitopes are a part of an antigen, which can trigger an immune response.

Faron shares were 1.4% lower at 189.84 pence each on Thursday afternoon in London.

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