- Medicenna Therapeutics (TSX:MDNA) has revealed new preclinical data from its MDNA113 drug candidate, the company’s treatment targeting IL-13Ra2, tumours associated with antigen
- The company presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, California
- When not activated, MDNA113 showed reduced IL-2R agonism with no change to PD-1/PDL-1 blockade activity
- Shares of Medicenna Therapeutics are down 6.47 per cent to C$1.59 as of 11:43 am ET
Medicenna Therapeutics (TSX:MDNA) revealed new preclinical data from its MDNA113 drug candidate, the company’s treatment targeting IL-13Ra2, tumours associated with antigens that are overexpressed by cold tumours with unmet needs.
The company stated in a news release that data was presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, California.
According to Medicenna, MDNA113 is the company’s most advanced pre-clinical candidate that targets IL13Ra2 in tumours such as pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, breast and brain cancers.
“MDNA113 has novel features, including the tunable blockade of the IL-2R agonism to reduce peripheral immune stimulation for enhanced tolerability, and tumour targeting to IL-13R⍺2 which is linked to aggressive cancers that annually affect over 2 million patients worldwide,” Fahar Merchant, CEO of Medicenna, said in a statement. “The cleavage and release of the IL-13 tumour-targeting/masking domain by matrix metalloproteases restores IL-2R signaling within the tumour microenvironment, thereby benefiting from the simultaneous and synergistic activity of IL-2R agonism and immune checkpoint blockade at the tumour site.”
MDNA113 is a novel, first-in-class tumour-targeted and tumour-activated bi-functional anti-PD1-IL-2 Superkine with high affinity for IL-13Rα2 without binding to the functional IL-13R⍺1.
IL-13Rα2 is a tumour-associated antigen with minimal to no expression in normal tissues but is highly expressed by a wide range of tumours including cold tumours.
Medicenna is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on developing novel, highly selective versions of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-13 Superkines and first-in-class empowered superkines.
Shares of Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. (TSX:MDNA) are down 6.47 per cent to C$1.59 as of 11:43 am ET.
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