Our Approach
Faron is at the forefront of immunology and drug development.
The Promise of Immunotherapy
While the field of immuno-oncology – now a mainstay of cancer treatment – has changed the way these diseases can be managed, not all patients benefit.
Some tumor types show primary resistance, while others develop adaptive or secondary resistance. Generally, about 80% of cancer patients don’t respond to current immunotherapy treatments.
While the first wave of pioneering immunotherapies changed the face of cancer care, Faron’s ambition is to bring the promise of immunotherapy to a broader population.
Clever-1 - A Unique Immune Checkpoint
Clever-1 is an immunosuppressive receptor found on macrophages that leads to tumor growth and metastases (i.e., it helps cancer to evade the immune system) and, for Faron, is a novel immune checkpoint target for drug development.
Macrophages are a type of myeloid cell that play an essential role in the immune system. But they are also one of the most abundant immune cells to be recruited into the tumor microenvironment: the ecosystem of cells that surrounds a tumor, employing multiple mechanisms to evade the immune system and directly promote tumor growth inside the body.
By targeting the Clever-1 receptor on macrophages, Faron's lead asset, bexmarilimab, alters the tumor microenvironment, reprogramming macrophages from an immunosuppressive (M2) state to an immunostimulatory (M1) one, upregulating interferon production and priming the immune system to attack tumors and sensitizing cancer cells to standard of care.