Medicenna’s MDNA11 Potential in Earlier Line Melanoma Setting Highlighted in Presentation of the NEO-CYT trial at ASCO 2026

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NEO-CYT positions MDNA11 in a frontline neoadjuvant melanoma setting, where immunotherapy before surgery may help generate deeper and more durable anti-tumor immune responses 

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Up to 80 patients with locally advanced melanoma will be randomized in this Investigator-sponsored, multicenter Phase 1b NEO-CYT trial led by Professor Paolo A. Ascierto of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione “G. Pascale” and sponsored by Fondazione Melanoma Onlus

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Together with the ongoing Phase 1/2 ABILITY-1 expansion cohorts in the 2L/3L Tx setting, NEO-CYT supports a broader clinical strategy to evaluate MDNA11 across select tumor types and multiple stages of disease, expanding future commercial opportunities

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MDNA11 clinical data updates from the ABILITY-1 and NEO-CYT trials are anticipated in H2 2026

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TORONTO and HOUSTON, June 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. (“Medicenna” or the “Company”) (TSX: MDNA, OTCQX: MDNAF), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing Superkines targeting cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced that its long-acting, “beta-enhanced not-alpha” IL-2 Superkine, MDNA11, was featured in a poster presentation describing the investigator-sponsored NEO-CYT trial at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held in Chicago from 28^th May to 2^nd June.

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Surgery has long been the first course of action in treating locally advanced melanoma. Recently, the landmark NADINA clinical trial (comprised of 2 pre-operative cycles of ipilimumab plus nivolumab) completely flipped the conventional treatment paradigm on its head by proving that giving combination immunotherapy before surgery is significantly more effective than the previous post-surgery standard, setting a new gold standard of care. However even with this regimen, 41% of patients did not achieve a Major Pathologic Response (< 10% of viable tumor). In view of the promising single agent activity of MDNA11 in patients with metastatic melanoma, the hypothesis of the NEO-CYT trial is to demonstrate if patient outcomes can be further enhanced over the gold-standard of care by introducing MDNA11 in combination with nivolumab +/- ipilimumab.

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“NEO-CYT provides an important opportunity to evaluate MDNA11, a potentially best-in-class IL-2 superagonist, in a frontline neoadjuvant setting where immune activation may be especially impactful,” said Fahar Merchant, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicenna. “ If the tumor is still present at the time of the treatment, the immune cells ‘see’ more of the cancer cells. This allows the most potent anti-tumor immune cells to expand and attack the tumor and can remain active in the body for many years, preventing the tumors from recurring. Importantly, this trial complements our ongoing ABILITY-1 study, which has already demonstrated durable disease control in more advanced stages of melanoma. The ABILITY-1 trial is also advancing MDNA11 into earlier lines of therapy through expansion cohorts in 2L/3L melanoma, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer and tumor agnostic biomarker driven cancers. We look forward to sharing updates on the ABILITY-1 trial and the NEO-CYT study during the second half of 2026.”

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NEO-CYT is a randomized, multicenter Phase 1b trial evaluating MDNA11 in combination with nivolumab, with or without ipilimumab, as neoadjuvant therapy in patients with high-risk, surgically resectable Stage IIIB/C/D cutaneous melanoma. The study is sponsored by Fondazione Melanoma Onlus and led by Professor Paolo A. Ascierto of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione “G. Pascale” in Naples, Italy.