Management's Discussion and Analysis

For the Year Ended

March 31, 2021

DATE OF REPORT: May 27, 2021

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

The following management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") has been prepared as of May 27, 2021 and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated audited financial statements of Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. ("Medicenna", the "Company", "we", "our", "us" and similar expressions). The audited consolidated financial statements and related notes of Medicenna were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and all dollar amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

All references in this MD&A to "the Company", "Medicenna", "we", "us", or "our" and similar expressions refer to Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. and the subsidiaries through which it conducts its business, unless otherwise indicated.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This MD&A contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature are forward-looking, and the words such as "plan", "expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimate", "forecast", "contemplate", "intend", "anticipate", or "believe" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "shall" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this MD&A include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's:

  • requirements for, and the ability to obtain, future funding on favourable terms or at all;
  • business strategy;
  • the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business;
  • projected financial position and estimated cash burn rate, and the sufficiency of the Company's financial resources to support its activities;
  • expected future loss and accumulated deficit levels;
  • expectations about the timing of achieving milestones and the cost of the Company's development programs;
  • observations and expectations regarding the safety and effectiveness of MDNA55, MDNA11, and other product candidates and the potential benefits to patients;
  • impacts of the Phase 1/2 trial of MDNA11, including its design, approval by regulatory agencies, costs, timeline, ability to start enrolment at therapeutic doses, completion of the study, data arising from the study including biomarker results, immunogenicity, safety, tumor response, survival data and ability to secure collaborations with pharma companies for supply of immunotherapies in combination portion of the clinical trial;
  • impacts of the Phase 3 trial of MDNA55, including its design, approval by regulatory agencies, reduced number of participants, costs, timeline, survival data and partnership opportunities for MDNA55;
  • expectations regarding the progress, and the successful and timely completion, of the various stages of the regulatory approval process;
  • ability to initiate, progress, and successful and timely completion, of various preclinical and manufacturing activities associated with future clinical trials;
  • expectations about the Company's products' safety and efficacy;
  • expectations regarding the Company's ability to arrange for the manufacturing of the Company's products and technologies;
  • expectations regarding the filing and approval of various submissions by regulatory agencies regarding the conduct of new clinical trials;

2

  • ability to secure strategic partnerships with larger pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies;
  • strategy to acquire and develop new products and technologies and to enhance the safety and efficacy of existing products and technologies;
  • plans to market, sell and distribute the Company's products and technologies;
  • expectations regarding the acceptance of the Company's products and technologies by the market;
  • ability to retain and access appropriate staff, management, and expert advisers;
  • expectations with respect to existing and future corporate alliances and licensing transactions with third parties, and the receipt and timing of any payments to be made by the Company or to the Company in respect of such arrangements; and
  • strategy with respect to the protection of the Company's intellectual property.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

The forward-looking information in this MD&A does not include a full assessment or reflection of the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing and developing indirect global and regional economic impacts. The Company is currently experiencing uncertainty related to the on-goingCOVID-19 situation. It is anticipated that the spread of COVID-19 and global measures to contain it and its variants, have had and continue to have an impact on the Company, however it is challenging to quantify the potential future magnitude of such impact at this time. The Company is regularly assessing the situation and remains in contact with its partners, clinical sites and investigators, contract research organizations ("CROs"), contract development and manufacturing organizations ("CDMOs") and suppliers to assess any impacts and risks. The Company believes that ongoing COVID-19 restrictions could impact CROs and associated IND-enabling studies of MDNA11, CDMOs and manufacturing timelines for MDNA11, as well as the planned clinical development timelines of the MDNA11 Phase 1/2a clinical trial as patient recruitment for clinical trials is currently being impacted. Medicenna has experienced delays in receiving components and supplies due to worldwide supply chain disruptions. The regulatory submissions to initiate the clinical study is planned for mid-calendar 2021 and it is not possible to predict the potential impact of patient recruitment however we are hopeful that as vaccination rates increase worldwide COVID-19 may not have a significant impact on patient recruitment.

All forward-looking statements reflect the Company's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the assumption was made. In making the forward-looking statements included in this MD&A, the Company has made various material assumptions, including but not limited to (i) securing adequate and timely supply of MDNA11 for clinical trials (ii) obtaining positive results from pre-clinical studies and clinical trials; (iii) obtaining regulatory approvals; (iv) general business and economic conditions;

  1. the availability of financing on reasonable terms; (vi) the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff; (vii) market competition; (viii) the products and technology offered by the Company's competitors; (ix) the Company's ability to protect patents and proprietary rights; and (x) the effect of COVID-19 on the Company's business and operations. By its nature, forward-looking information involves numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, known and unknown, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections or other forward-looking statements will not occur. Factors which could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
    • the effect of continuing operating losses on the Company's ability to obtain, on satisfactory terms, or at all, the capital required to maintain the Company as a going concern;
    • the ability to obtain sufficient and suitable financing to support operations, preclinical development, manufacturing, clinical trials, and commercialization of products;
    • the risks associated with the development of novel compounds at early stages of development in the Company's intellectual property portfolio;
    • the risks of reliance on third parties for the planning, conduct and monitoring of clinical trials and for the manufacture of drug products;

3

  • the risks of reliance on third parties for timely completion of ongoing clinical trial activities, conduct of statistical analysis, imaging analysis, preparation of study reports and regulatory submissions;
  • the risks associated with the development of the Company's product candidates including the demonstration of efficacy and safety;
  • the risks related to clinical trials including potential delays, cost overruns and the failure to demonstrate efficacy and safety;
  • the risks of delays and inability to complete clinical trials due to difficulties in securing Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee approval and enrolling subjects;
  • the risks associated with the Company's inability to successfully develop companion diagnostics for the Company's development candidates;
  • the risks associated with the Company's inability to successfully access drug delivery technology or materials and components required for drug delivery;
  • the risks associated with reliance on third parties for proper storage, packaging and shipment of active ingredients or other components required for preclinical or clinical trials;
  • the risks associated with product loss or degradation or failure of manufacturing batches and not meeting specifications for use in preclinical or clinical trials;
  • delays or negative outcomes from the regulatory approval process;
  • the Company's ability to successfully compete in the Company's targeted markets;
  • the Company's ability to attract and retain key personnel, collaborators and advisors;
  • the risks relating to the increase in operating costs from expanding existing programs, acquisition of additional development programs and increased staff;
  • risk of negative results of clinical trials or adverse safety events by the Company or others related to the Company's product candidates;
  • the potential for product liability claims;
  • the Company's ability to achieve the Company's forecasted milestones and timelines on schedule;
  • the financial risks related to the fluctuation of foreign currency rates and expenses denominated in foreign currencies;
  • the Company's ability to adequately protect proprietary information and technology from competitors;
  • risks related to changes in patent laws and their interpretations;
  • the Company's ability to source and maintain licenses from third-party owners;
  • the risk of patent-related litigation and the ability to protect trade secrets;
  • the Company's internal computer systems, or those used by its contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this MD&A are based upon what the Company's management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statements represent the Company's estimates only as of the date of this MD&A and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates as of any subsequent date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by securities laws.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

The Company's principal business activity is the development and commercialization of Superkines and Empowered Superkines for the treatment of cancer. Medicenna has five wholly owned subsidiaries, Medicenna Therapeutics Inc. (British Columbia), Medicenna Biopharma Inc. (Delaware), Medicenna Biopharma Inc. (British Columbia), Medicenna Australia PTY Ltd (Australia) ("MAL") and Medicenna Therapeutics UK Limited ("MTU"). On August 2, 2017 Medicenna graduated to the main board of the Toronto Stock Exchange. On November 13, 2017, Medicenna continued under the Canada Business Corporations Act. On August 24, 2020, Medicenna began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market

4

("NASDAQ") under the symbol "MDNA". On March 30, 2021, the Company set up it's wholly owned subsidiary MAL and on April 15, 2021 the Company set up its wholly owned subsidiary MTU.

Medicenna is an immunotherapy company developing novel, highly selective versions of interleukin-2 ("IL- 2"), interleukin-4("IL-4") and interleukin-13("IL-13") tunable cytokines, called "Superkines". These Superkines can be developed either on their own as short or long-acting therapeutics or fused with cell killing proteins in order to generate Empowered Superkines that precisely deliver potent toxins to cancer cells without harming adjacent healthy cells. Superkines can also be fused with a large variety of proteins, antibodies and even other Superkines in order to incorporate two synergistic therapeutic activities into one molecule, creating novel Bi-Functional SuperKine ImmunoTherapies referred by Medicenna as BiSKITsTM. Medicenna's mission is to become the leader in the development and commercialization of Superkines, Empowered Superkines and BiSKITs for the treatment of a broad range of cancers and other diseases. The Company seeks to achieve its goals by drawing on its expertise, and that of world-class collaborators and advisors, in order to develop a unique set of therapeutic Superkines. Compared to naturally occurring cytokines - that bind to multiple receptors on many cell types - superkines are engineered with unique specificity toward specific receptor subtypes and defined target cell subsets in order to precisely activate or inhibit relevant signalling pathways or immune cells in order to improve therapeutic efficacy and safety.

Medicenna has completed a Phase 2b clinical trial of MDNA55, Medicenna's Empowered Superkine, for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma ("rGBM"), the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer. MDNA55 is a fusion of a circularly permuted version of IL-4, fused to a potent fragment of the bacterial toxin, Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE), and is designed to preferentially target tumor cells that over-express the interleukin 4 receptor ("IL-4R"). MDNA55 has been studied in 5 clinical trials in 132 patients, including 112 patients with rGBM, in which it has shown indications of superior efficacy when compared to the current standard of care (SOC). MDNA55 has secured Orphan Drug Status from the United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") and the European Medicines Agency ("EMA") as well as Fast Track Designation from the FDA for the treatment of rGBM and other types of high grade glioma. On September 29, 2020, Medicenna had an End of Phase 2 ("EOP2") meeting with the FDA and provided an update on October 15, 2020 announcing that the FDA agreed for Medicenna to conduct an innovative open-label hybrid Phase 3 trial that allows use of a substantial number of patients (two-thirds) from a matched external control arm to support regulatory approval of MDNA55 for rGBM. This hybrid trial design will reduce the overall number of subjects needed to enroll in the study to achieve the primary endpoint, and notably reduce the number of subjects that would be randomized to SOC treatment under a conventional 1:1 randomization. We are currently pursuing a strategic partnership to assist with additional clinical development of MDNA55.

Complementing MDNA55, the Company has built a deep pipeline of promising preclinical Superkine candidates such as IL-2 agonists (MDNA109), IL-2 antagonists (MDNA209), dual IL-4/IL-13 antagonists (MDNA413) and IL-13 Superkine (MDNA132) all in-licensed from Leland Stanford Junior University ("Stanford"). The most advanced of these programs is the MDNA109 platform (MDNA11 and MDNA19), of which MDNA11 is the only genetically engineered IL-2 Superkine designed to specifically target CD122 (IL- 2Rβ) with high affinity without CD25 dependency. Both MDNA11 and MDNA19, which unlike native IL-2 (Proleukin), have superior pharmacokinetic properties, lack CD25 binding in order to improve safety, potently stimulate effector T cells, reverse natural killer ("NK") cell anergy and act with exceptional synergy when combined with checkpoint inhibitors.

MDNA19 and MDNA11 originate from the same base molecule engineered from the MDNA109 platform. This base molecule, MDNA109, has a very short half-life which would require frequent daily dosing and therefore would not be convenient for cancer patients. To address this issue, Medicenna fused both Fc (MDNA19) and albumin (MDNA11) to MDNA109 with the effect of increasing the size of the molecule and its half-life. After completing pilot non-human primate studies with both MDNA19 and MDNA11, it became apparent that MDNA11 was the more promising molecule and has therefore been selected as the lead IL- 2 candidate to advance into clinical development over MDNA19. Medicenna is thus working towards submitting an application to regulatory agencies in mid-calendar 2021 in order to start a Phase 1/2a clinical study for MDNA11. Due to similarities in cancer patients that can be treated by MDNA11 and MDNA19, Medicenna is not planning to advance clinical development of MDNA19, which was previously identified as

5

This is an excerpt of the original content. To continue reading it, access the original document here.

Attachments

  • Original document
  • Permalink

Disclaimer

Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. published this content on 28 May 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 May 2021 17:38:02 UTC.