Faron appoints Maija Hollmén as CSO

London-listed Finnish biotech firm Faron Pharmaceuticals (AIM: FARN) today announces the appointment of Faron co-founder Maija Hollmén as chief scientific officer of the company.

In her new role, Dr Hollmén will oversee preclinical and support clinical development for Faron. Her priority will be the further development of bexmarilimab, Faron's wholly owned, novel precision cancer immunotherapy candidate. Bexmarilimab is currently being evaluated for safety and efficacy in a Phase I/II clinical trial, in combination with standard of care (SoC), in aggressive hematological malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The potential therapy has already achieved a strong safety and overall survival benefit profile in the Phase I/II MATINS trial as a monotherapy in late-stage solid tumors.

“Dr Hollmén is the world-leading expert on CLEVER-1 biology and Clever-1-expressing tumor-associated macrophages," said Marie-Louise Fjällskog, chief medical officer of Faron. "Her support is essential to bexmarilimab’s development. Faron is pleased to have her on board in the chief scientific officer role to bring her knowledge of the target molecule and develop it further.”