On Friday, H.C. Wainwright reaffirmed its Buy rating and $2.50 price target for Medicenna Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MDNA), a clinical-stage biotech company with a market capitalization of $110.87 million. The rating follows the company's presentation of clinical data from its ongoing Phase 1/2 ABILITY-1 study. The stock has shown remarkable momentum, gaining 15.7% in the past week and an impressive 373.81% year-to-date, according to InvestingPro data.
The study evaluates MDNA11, a long-acting IL-2 agonist designed to treat patients with advanced solid tumors. The data was presented at the 2024 Associazione Italiana di Oncologia Medica (AIOM) Immunotherapy Bridge on December 5.
Medicenna reported that within the monotherapy arm of the ABILITY-1 study, the objective response rate (ORR) was 30% in patients with advanced and/or metastatic melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, or MSI-H/dMMR tumors that had progressed following immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy and who received the recommended dose for expansion (RDE) of 90 ug/kg every two weeks.
Among these patients, a melanoma patient exhibited a confirmed complete response (CR), and a patient with MSI-H pancreatic cancer showed complete resolution of both target and non-target metastatic lesions. This result is particularly notable as pembrolizumab, the current approved treatment for MSI-H pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), achieved an ORR of 18.2% in this patient population.
Additionally, stable disease (SD) was observed in six patients, resulting in a disease control rate (DCR) of 55%, which includes three patients with a duration exceeding six months. The company highlighted the preferential expansion of CD25+, CD8+, and TCF-1+ immune effector cells with MDNA11 therapy, which may indicate a potential for prolonged efficacy.
From a financial perspective, InvestingPro data shows the company maintains a strong liquidity position with a current ratio of 11.4 and holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet, providing runway for continued clinical development.
MDNA11 has continued to demonstrate a favorable safety profile, with no dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) reported. The majority of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were Grade 1-2 and resolved within 48 hours. Medicenna plans to present additional data from the monotherapy portion of the ABILITY-1 study in the first half of 2025.
Analyst consensus remains strongly bullish, with targets ranging from $2.67 to $3.56, suggesting significant upside potential. For deeper insights into Medicenna's financial health and additional analyst coverage, investors can access more than 10 exclusive ProTips and comprehensive financial metrics through InvestingPro.
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