Dr. Fahar Merchant reports

MEDICENNA COMPLETES PHASE 1/2 ABILITY-1 ENROLLMENT AND ANNOUNCES WEBINAR TO DISCUSS UPDATED MDNA11 RESULTS WITH KEY OPINION LEADERS

Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. has completed enrolment in its global phase 1/2 Ability-1 study of MDNA11. The company will host a live key opinion leaders (KOL) webinar on Nov. 10, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern Time, to discuss updated data from the study.

As previously announced on Oct. 5, 2026, updated data from Ability-1 will be presented by Prof. Paolo Ascierto, during an oral session at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2026 Annual Meeting on Nov. 7, 2026. The abstract was selected as one of the meeting's Top 150 Abstracts.

MDNA11 is an investigational, long-acting IL-2 superkine designed to activate and expand cancer-fighting immune cells. Ability-1 is evaluating MDNA11 both as a monotherapy and in combination with Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab). Over all, a total of 152 patients from Canada, United States, Australia, Europe and South Korea were enrolled in this global study.

"Achieving our target enrolment in Ability-1 is an important milestone for the development of MDNA11 as we demonstrate the potential benefits of an engineered beta-enhanced IL-2 superkine," said Fahar Merchant, PhD, president and chief executive officer of Medicenna. "We believe MDNA11 has the potential to expand treatment options for patients with advanced cancers where significant unmet needs remain. Ability-1 is helping us define its potential role both as a stand-alone therapy and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, and guide the next stage of clinical development. We are grateful to the patients, their families, physicians and clinical teams for their enthusiasm to achieve our target enrolment. We look forward to presenting the updated data at SITC 2026 on Nov. 7 and discussing the findings during our KOL webinar on Nov. 10."

The webinar will feature Medicenna's management team, Dr. Hussein A. Tawbi, MD, PhD, professor of melanoma medical oncology and director of personalized cancer therapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Dr. Andre Mansinho, MD, MSc, a principal investigator in the phase 1/2 Ability-1 study. Dr. Mansinho is the director of clinical research at START Lisbon, Portugal, and a clinical researcher at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM).

Medicenna KOL webinar -- event details

Date:   Nov. 10, 2026

Time:  9 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET

Format:  live webinar with Q&A (question and answer)

Registration:  Participants can register on-line. A replay will be available on Medicenna's website following the event.

About Dr. Hussein A. Tawbi, MD, PhD

Dr. Hussein A. Tawbi is a professor of melanoma medical oncology and director of personalized cancer therapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Tex. He also serves as director of the Immuno-Oncology Clinical Drug Development Program and co-leader of MD Anderson's Melanoma Moon Shot. He also co-founded and co-directs the Andrew M. McDougall Brain Metastasis Clinic and Research Program. Dr. Tawbi specializes in melanoma, immuno-oncology and the clinical development of innovative cancer therapeutics, with particular expertise in immune checkpoint inhibitors, treatment resistance and melanoma brain metastases. He has served as principal investigator on numerous clinical trials evaluating novel immunotherapies and combination treatment strategies, and has made significant contributions to advancing personalized approaches to cancer treatment. Dr Tawbi has been a recipient of numerous honours, including Irwin H. Krakoff Award for Excellence in Clinical Research, The Otis W. and Pearl L. Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research, and MD Anderson President's Award for Faculty Excellence. Dr. Tawbi has over 180 publications in high-impact journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature, Science, Nature Medicine, among others. He is co-chair of the SITC PD-1 Resistance Committee and in 2020 he was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Dr. Tawbi obtained his MD in 2001 from the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, and completed his training in internal medicine and hematology/oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. His clinical training was coupled with a PhD degree in clinical and translational science.

About Dr. Andre Mansinho, MD, MSc

Dr. Mansinho is director of clinical research at START Lisbon, Portugal, and a clinical researcher at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM). He earned his integrated master's degree in medicine from NOVA Medical School -- Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, in 2011. Following his medical studies, he completed his general medical residency at Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental and his residency in medical oncology at Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte. He is also an invited assistant professor at the faculty of medicine, University of Lisbon, where he has been involved in teaching and academic activities in oncology.

Dr. Mansinho specializes in the clinical development of innovative cancer therapies, with particular expertise in early phase clinical trials, precision medicine, and the treatment of genitourinary, gastrointestinal and skin cancers. He completed a clinical research fellowship at START in 2017 and has participated in numerous international clinical trials evaluating novel oncology treatments, including immunotherapies and targeted therapies. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), and has contributed to peer-reviewed scientific publications and oncology research.

About Ability-1

Ability-1 (NCT05086692) is an open-label, multicentre phase 1/2 dose-escalation and expansion study evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and anti-tumour activity of MDNA11 both alone and in combination with pembrolizumab, in patients with advanced solid tumours. Previously disclosed Ability-1 results showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 36 per cent with MDNA11 monotherapy (n equals 14) and 43 per cent with MDNA11 in combination with pembrolizumab (n equals 14), in patients treated in the second or third line or following resistance to checkpoint inhibitors for melanoma, endometrial and gastrointestinal cancers, as disclosed on Feb. 13, 2026.

About Medicenna Therapeutics Corp.

Medicenna is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing engineered cytokine therapies designed to selectively engage the immune system to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. Medicenna is advancing MDNA11, a long-acting IL-2 superkine designed to selectively activate cancer-fighting immune cells, which is currently being evaluated in the phase 1/2 Ability-1 study and the phase 1b NEO-CYT study. The company is also developing MDNA113, a targeted PD-1 x IL-2 bifunctional immunotherapy for solid tumours, and MDNA209, an antagonist of CD122 blocking IL-2/IL-15 signalling, using its proprietary BiSKIT and T-MASK platforms. The company's most advanced program, bizaxofusp (formerly MDNA55), is a targeted IL-4 Empowered superkine that has been evaluated in more than 130 patients across five clinical trials, including a phase 2b study in recurrent glioblastoma. Bizaxofusp has received fast-track designation from the Food and Drug Administration, and orphan drug designation from the FDA and orphan designation in the European Union.

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