On April 30, 2026 Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. ("Medicenna" or the "Company") (TSX: MDNA, OTCQX: MDNAF), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing Superkines for targeting cancer and autoimmune disease, reported the presentation of a poster on the NEOCYT Trial at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) to be held in Chicago from May 29th to June 3rd, 2026.
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The clinical trial is a randomized, investigator‑initiated neoadjuvant Phase 1b trial testing MDNA11, a long‑acting, "beta‑enhanced not‑alpha" IL‑2 Superkine, in combination with nivolumab (anti‑PD‑1) with or without ipilimumab (anti‑CTLA‑4) for patients with high‑risk, surgically resectable Stage III cutaneous melanoma. The study is sponsored by the non-profit Melanoma Foundation (Fondazione Melanoma Onlus) at the National Cancer Institute ‘G. Pascale Foundation’.
Details on the presentation are as follows:
Title: A Multicentre, Randomised Phase 1b Trial to evaluate Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Combination of Nivolumab alone or plus Ipilimumab with the IL-2 Superkine MDNA11 alone or with Tocilizumab in Patients with High Risk, Surgically Resectable Melanoma – The NEO-CYT Trial
Session: Melanoma/Skin Cancers
Poster #: 488a
Abstract Number: TPS9612
Presenter: Paolo Antonio Ascierto, MD
Date & Time: May 31st, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT
Location: Hall A
Clinical Trial Registration:
eudract.ema.europa.eu/protocol.htm, identifier 2024-519010-31-00
About MDNA11
MDNA11 is a long-acting, ‘beta-enhanced not-alpha’ IL-2 Superkine specifically engineered to overcome the shortcomings of aldesleukin and other next generation IL-2 variants by preferentially activating immune effector cells (CD8+ T and NK cells) responsible for killing cancer cells, with minimal or no stimulation of immunosuppressive Tregs. These unique proprietary features of the IL-2 Superkine have been achieved by incorporating seven specific mutations and genetically fusing it to a recombinant human albumin scaffold to improve the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile and pharmacological activity of MDNA11 due to albumin’s natural propensity to accumulate in highly vascularized sites, in particular tumor and tumor draining lymph nodes. MDNA11 is currently being evaluated in the Phase 1/2 ABILITY-1 study as both monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab.
(Press release, Medicenna Therapeutics, APR 30, 2026, View Source [SID1234664971])