A new chapter begins at Faron as Juho Jalkanen starts as CEO
To me Faron means Family. My parents founded Faron to take academic discoveries into drug development programs. They devoted their lives to advancing science, human health and the life science sector of Finland. They could have done it elsewhere, for example in the US, but they chose to do it for their homeland. For many of our companions, it has been a long and enduring path, put the goal is already insight – a new drug for a cancer that has no treatment. My parents discovered our target molecule Clever-1 twenty years ago. For years they rigorously studied the properties of the molecule, to understand how does it work, and how should it be targeted.
Those seeds that were then planted, and since then have been repeatedly watered and looked after, our now finally bearing fruit. And my job as the new CEO is to see how these fruits will be picked as bexmarilimab transitions from early to late-stage development. In my new role as the CEO, I too, will rely in my national inheritance, which is built on courage, resilience and caring for one-another. Over my years in the industry I have interviewed many people from academia that have wanted to join a biotech company. I say to them: “Do you really? It’s not for the faint-hearted. It requires guts, resilience, and an enormous amount of work.” I continue: “Look at us. We are down to the second generation doing this. If you have that level of conviction, then welcome. It will be the ride of your life”.
Yours truly,
Juho
Dr Juho Jalkanen CEO
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