On September 22, 2026 IMUNON, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMNN), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing DNA-mediated immunotherapies, reported that the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) overseeing its ongoing Phase 2 minimal residual disease (MRD) translational study of IMNN-001 has reviewed all safety data to date and recommended that the study continue without modification after identifying no new safety signals and confirming comparable safety across both treatment arms.

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The IDMC is comprised of independent medical experts in gynecologic cancers. The Phase 2 MRD study is a randomized, controlled translational study assessing minimal residual disease following treatment with standard-of-care chemotherapy and bevacizumab, with or without IMNN-001, in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer. The multi-site study is being conducted in collaboration with Break Through Cancer and is led by investigators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

"The IDMC’s recommendation to continue our Phase 2 MRD study without modification provides important independent validation of the favorable safety profile we have consistently observed across our clinical development program," said Stacy Lindborg, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of IMUNON. "Across our completed and ongoing clinical studies, we have observed no cytokine release syndrome, no systemic toxicities and no serious immune-related adverse events—an important distinction for an IL-12-based immunotherapy. Combined with the encouraging biological and clinical activity reported from this study in July, these findings further strengthen our confidence as we continue advancing our pivotal Phase 3 OVATION 3 trial."

Consistent with this experience, the latest IDMC review identified no new safety concerns in the ongoing pivotal Phase 3 OVATION 3 trial. The MRD study has also achieved two important safety objectives by demonstrating the safety and tolerability of IMNN-001 both in combination with bevacizumab and in the maintenance setting.

In July 2026, the Company reported encouraging preliminary data from the MRD study, which is designed both to evaluate clinical activity and to better understand how IMNN-001 remodels the tumor immune microenvironment following frontline treatment. Among patients who reached the study’s primary assessment at second-look laparoscopy, treatment with IMNN-001 was associated with:

A lower rate of MRD positivity compared with the control arm (44% versus 67%);
Higher clearance of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) (87.5% versus 62.5%); and
A higher proportion of patients achieving "no evidence of disease" following frontline therapy (100% versus 56%).
While preliminary and based on a limited number of patients, these findings provide encouraging evidence that IMNN-001 may drive deeper anti-tumor responses while maintaining the highly favorable safety profile consistently observed across the Company’s clinical development program. These clinical findings are supported by translational analyses that demonstrated robust IL-12 expression within macrophages, activation of downstream cytokines including interferon-gamma, and evidence of both macrophage and T-cell activation, consistent with remodeling the tumor immune microenvironment from an immunologically "cold" state to one that is immunologically active, or "hot."

About the Translational Phase 2 MRD Study

The Phase 2 MRD study (NCT05739981) is evaluating IMNN-001 in combination with standard-of-care neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy plus bevacizumab in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer, conducted through the Break Through Cancer Targeting Minimal Residual Disease in Ovarian Cancer TeamLab. Patients in the experimental arm receive IMNN-001, administered intraperitoneally, in combination with N/ACT plus bevacizumab, followed by interval cytoreductive surgery and additional cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy plus IMNN-001. Patients then undergo second-look laparoscopy (SLL) to assess for minimal residual disease, followed by maintenance therapy assigned according to homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) status. The primary endpoint of the study is MRD-positive rate at SLL; the secondary endpoint is progression-free survival (PFS). The study also includes serial translational analyses of tumor tissue, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), microbiome, and intraperitoneal fluid, to further characterize IMNN-001’s impact on the tumor immune microenvironment.

About IMNN-001 Immunotherapy

Designed using IMUNON’s proprietary TheraPlas platform technology, IMNN-001 is an IL-12 DNA plasmid vector encased in a nanoparticle delivery system that enables cell transfection followed by persistent, local secretion of the IL-12 protein. IL-12 is one of the most active cytokines for the induction of potent anticancer immunity, acting through the induction of T-lymphocyte and natural killer cell proliferation. IMUNON previously reported positive safety and encouraging Phase 1 results with IMNN-001 administered as monotherapy or as combination therapy in patients with advanced peritoneally metastasized primary or recurrent ovarian cancer, and completed a Phase 1b dose-escalation trial (the OVATION 1 Study) of IMNN-001 in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel neoadjuvantly in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. IMUNON previously reported positive results from the completed Phase 2 OVATION 2 Study, which assessed IMNN-001 (100 mg/m2 administered intraperitoneally weekly) plus neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy (N/ACT) of paclitaxel and carboplatin compared to standard-of-care N/ACT alone in 112 patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.

About Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the sixth deadliest malignancy among women in the U.S. There are approximately 20,000 new cases of ovarian cancer every year and approximately 70% are diagnosed in advanced stage III/IV. Epithelial ovarian cancer is characterized by dissemination of tumors in the peritoneal cavity with a high risk of recurrence (75%, stage III/IV) after surgery and chemotherapy. Since the five-year survival rates of patients with stage III/IV disease at diagnosis are poor (41% and 20%, respectively), there remains a need for a therapy that not only reduces the recurrence rate but also improves overall survival. The peritoneal cavity of advanced ovarian cancer patients contains the primary tumor environment and is an attractive target for a regional approach to immune modulation.

(Press release, IMUNON, SEP 22, 2026, View Source [SID1234670997])