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Medicenna Selects its Lead Immuno-Oncology Clinical Candidate, MDNA19, from its IL-2 Superkine Platform
Medicenna Selects its Lead Immuno-Oncology Clinical Candidate, MDNA19, from its IL-2 Super...
About this update from Medicenna Therapeutics Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nMedicenna Selects its Lead Immuno-Oncology Clinical Candidate, MDNA19, from its IL-2 Superkine Platform\n\n/* Style Definitions */\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n.prntac{\nTEXT-ALIGN: CENTER\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada NewsWire\nTORONTO and HOUSTON, July 31, 2019\n\n\n\nMDNA19 demonstrates robust efficacy and safety with or without checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical models; Clinical studies expected to commence in 2020\n TORONTO and HOUSTON, July 31, 2019 /CNW/ - Medicenna Therapeutics Corp.  (\"Medicenna\" or \"the Company\") (TSX: MDNA, OTCQB: MDNAF), a clinical stage immunotherapy company developing first-in-class Superkines and Empowered Cytokines, today announced the selection of MDNA19 (formerly, MDNA109-LA1) as its second immuno-oncology clinical candidate for the treatment of cancer. MDNA19 is a best-in-class long-acting IL-2 developed from Medicenna's Superkine platform that has shown unique ability to selectively stimulate cancer killing immune cells without the limitations seen with other long-acting IL-2 programs. Medicenna expects to begin clinical trials with MDNA19 in 2020.\n\"We are excited to announce MDNA19 as our lead clinical candidate for the treatment of solid tumors which marks a major milestone for Medicenna and our Superkine platform,\" said Dr. Fahar Merchant, President and CEO of Medicenna. \"Unlike competing IL-2 programs which are unable to meaningfully stimulate cancer killing immune cells, MDNA19 is designed to dramatically boost the population of immune cells to attack cancer instead of immune cells that protect cancer while maintaining a superior safety profile. We strongly believe that MDNA19 could deliver increased benefits to the patient, expand partnering opportunities and become a core driver of the Company's short and long term success.\"\nAs recently presented at the 2019 Immuno-Oncology Pharma Congress in Boston, MDNA19 showed disabled binding to the CD25 subunit of the IL-2 receptor and enhanced selectivity towards CD122, resulting in much higher activation of effector T cells relative to Tregs without the toxicity associated with Pro...