Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on tackling difficult-to-treat cancers and inflammation via precision macrophage immunotherapy, has appointed Faron co-founder Maija Hollmén, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer.
 
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.”
 
Hollmén is an adjunct professor of Tumor Immunology on the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Turku in Finland, as well as a principal investigator. Hollmén earned both her PhD and MSc degrees from the University of Turku.
 
“I am excited to join the team at Faron as we work to advance bexmarilimab’s development for the treatment of advanced cancers,” said Hollmén. “I am inspired by the possibility to make a difference for patients who have no other options and to be part of the pioneering work Faron is currently doing in developing next-generation immunotherapies.”
 
Hollmén’s post-doctoral studies were conducted at ETH Zurich alongside Professor Michael Detmar, focusing on tumor immunology and how cancer cells educate macrophages to support tumor growth. Hollmén returned to Turku and formed her own laboratory to develop strategies to resolve immunosuppressive cells and pathways and during this time, concentrated working on CLEVER-1.