– CANADA, Toronto – Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. (NASDAQ: MDNA | TSX: MDNA), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, today announced the appointment of Dr. John Sampson (MD, Ph.D.) to its Board of Directors.
“John is a world-renowned clinician-scientist and I’m thrilled to welcome him to our Board. We believe his extensive background in leading novel clinical trials, interactions with regulators and translational immuno-oncology expertise will be invaluable as we work to further develop MDNA11, advance our MDNA55 program with a partnership, and leverage our Superkine platform to bring additional candidates into the clinic. We look forward to his guidance and contributions to advancing our pipeline into the clinic,” said CEO, Dr. Fahar Merchant.
He added, “This is an exciting time for Medicenna and it’s an honor to be joining the Board. With the recent initiation of the Phase 1/2 ABILITY Study, the Company is on track to begin demonstrating the potential of MDNA11 in the clinic. It also has impressive Phase 2b data with MDNA55 in recurrent glioblastoma and a highly talented management team, all of which position the Company for continued success.”
About Dr. John H. Sampson
John H. Sampson, MD, Ph.D., MBA, is the Robert H. and Gloria Wilkins Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery at Duke University School of Medicine. He is also President of Private Diagnostic Clinic, Duke’s physician practice with revenue of over $1 billion, and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine. He has served on multiple Scientific and Governance Boards at publicly traded biotechnology companies and major non-profit health delivery organizations. Dr. Sampson is the National Institutes of Health’s top-funded neurosurgeon, has helped develop various immune-based therapies, and has served as the lead investigator in dozens of early and late-stage clinical trials. He has published more than 270 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been an editorial board member for major journals in his field. As part of his research efforts, he is actively investigating new modalities of direct brain tumor infusion and the development of novel immunotherapies.
Dr. Sampson has an MD from the University of Manitoba, a Ph.D. from Duke University, and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
About Medicenna
Medicenna is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on the development of novel, highly selective versions of IL-2, IL-4, and IL-13 Superkines and first in class Empowered Superkines. Medicenna’s long-acting IL-2 Superkine, MDNA11, is a next-generation IL-2 with superior CD122 binding without CD25 affinity thereby preferentially stimulating cancer-killing effector T cells and NK cells. Medicenna’s early-stage BiSKITs program, (Bifunctional SuperKine ImmunoTherapies) is designed to enhance the ability of Superkines to treat immunologically “cold” tumors. Medicenna’s IL-4 Empowered Superkine, MDNA55, has been studied in 5 clinical trials including a Phase 2b trial for recurrent GBM, the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer. MDNA55 has obtained Fast-Track and Orphan Drug status from the FDA and FDA/EMA, respectively.
For more information: https://www.medicenna.com/
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