Strategic Restructuring Eliminates Expenses Not Essential to the Phase 3 Study

Khursheed Anwer, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, will retire after nearly 12 years at the company

Phase 3 Study enrollment remains ahead of schedule and advances the company toward future BLA filing

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., Feb. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMUNON, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMNN), a clinical-stage company in Phase 3 development with its DNA-mediated immunotherapy, today announced a strategic reorganization that will eliminate headcount not essential to the Phase 3 trial and redefine the job descriptions for additional employees to reduce operating expenses while supporting the company's focused strategy to rapidly advance the pivotal OVATION 3 Phase 3 clinical trial in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer. The company also announced that Khursheed Anwer, Ph.D., MBA, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, who has been at IMUNON for nearly 12 years and who led the initial development of the company's proprietary TheraPlas^® platform technology, will retire effective February 20, 2026.

"We have made significant progress and built strong momentum in 2025 with our lead IMNN-001 program, including reporting unprecedented Phase 2 clinical data at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting and in the peer-reviewed journal Gynecologic Oncology that showed a median 13-month increase in overall survival in combination with standard of care chemotherapy," said Stacy Lindborg, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUNON. "Our highest priority now is to continue enrollment ahead of projections and to activate a full complement of clinical sites to complete this landmark research as quickly as possible. To support this, as we have always done, we have taken steps to improve our efficient use of resources. The flexibility of our workforce, a hallmark of Imunon's ability to achieve its objectives, will ensure that we have the resources in place to build new levels of momentum in our Phase 3 trial in the months ahead."

"Dr. Khursheed Anwer's decision to retire comes at a time of transition for the Company as we move to focus on the commercial potential of his career research, DNA-mediated immunotherapy. His scientific leadership, many contributions to advancing our business strategy, and lifelong commitment to patients have played a central role in our success and our goal to transform the broader cancer treatment landscape. On behalf of IMUNON and our Board of Directors, I would like to express our deep gratitude to Khursheed for his extraordinary contributions to cancer research, the medical community, and IMUNON over the last decade," added Dr. Lindborg.

"It has been a privilege for us to use the scientific knowledge to develop the TheraPlas platform and I am very proud of the achievements and groundbreaking innovations we have advanced since joining IMUNON in 2014," said Dr. Anwer. "Building on this work, the IMUNON team has the clear potential to deliver a novel and highly effective IL-12 immunotherapy to the thousands of women with advanced ovarian cancer who desperately need new treatment options."

About the OVATION 3 Study

OVATION 3 is IMUNON's pivotal Phase 3 study of IMMN-001, an IL-12 gene-mediated immunotherapy, in women with advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer. The study is supported with unprecedented overall survival (OS) data from a large, 112-patient, randomized Phase 2 study (OVATION 2) showing the following:

Median 13-month increase in OS (HR 0.70) and median 3-month increase in PFS (HR 0.79) in IMNN-001 treatment arm compared to standard of care alone.
Better therapeutic effect observed with IMNN-001 treatment compared to the control arm (p=0.0375), as shown by mean 6.5-month extension of time free of progression or death (PFS + OS) captured in totality of treatment effect.
Use of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors as part of maintenance therapy, which further enhanced outcomes, with median OS not yet reached in the IMNN-001 treatment arm as patients surpass 5 years since randomization in the trial compared to median OS of 37 months on standard of care (HR 0.42).

The results from the OVATION 2 Study have led to invitations to present data from the Phase 2 Study at both the ASCO and ESMO annual meetings and in the peer-reviewed journal Gynecologic Oncology.

The OVATION 3 trial is a robustly designed clinical study with at least 95% statistical power on the primary endpoint of overall survival. The trial design includes two planned interim analyses of the primary endpoint, designed to allow for an accelerated timeline for FDA submission of an IMNN-001 BLA if the primary endpoint reaches statistical significance. OVATION 3 is currently enrolling patients at five clinical sites with up to 46 additional sites being considered for activation.

About IMNN-001 Immunotherapy

Designed using IMUNON's proprietary TheraPlas^® platform technology, IMNN-001 is an IL-12 DNA plasmid vector encased in a nanoparticle delivery system that enables cell transfection followed by persistent, local secretion of the IL-12 protein. IL-12 is one of the most active cytokines for the induction of potent anticancer immunity acting through the induction of T-lymphocyte and natural killer cell proliferation. IMUNON previously reported positive safety and encouraging Phase 1 results with IMNN-001 administered as monotherapy or as combination therapy in patients with advanced peritoneally metastasized primary or recurrent ovarian cancer and completed a Phase 1b dose-escalation trial (the OVATION 1 Study) of IMNN-001 in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel neoadjuvantly in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. IMUNON previously reported positive results from the recently completed Phase 2 OVATION 2 Study, which assessed IMNN-001 (100 mg/m² administered intraperitoneally weekly) plus neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy (N/ACT) of paclitaxel and carboplatin compared to standard-of-care N/ACT alone in 112 patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer.

About Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the sixth deadliest malignancy among women in the U.S. There are approximately 20,000 new cases of ovarian cancer every year and approximately 70% are diagnosed in advanced stage III/IV. Epithelial ovarian cancer is characterized by dissemination of tumors in the peritoneal cavity with a high risk of recurrence (75%, stage III/IV) after surgery and chemotherapy. Since the five-year survival rates of patients with stage III/IV disease at diagnosis are poor (41% and 20%, respectively), there remains a need for a therapy that not only reduces the recurrence rate but also improves overall survival. The peritoneal cavity of advanced ovarian cancer patients contains the primary tumor environment and is an attractive target for a regional approach to immune modulation.

About IMUNON

IMUNON is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments that harness the body's natural mechanisms to generate safe, effective and durable responses across a broad array of human diseases, constituting a differentiating approach from conventional therapies. IMUNON is developing its non-viral DNA technology across its modalities. The first modality, TheraPlas^®, is developed for the gene-based delivery of cytokines and other therapeutic proteins in the treatment of solid tumors where an immunological approach is deemed promising. The second modality, PlaCCine^®, is developed for the gene delivery of viral antigens that can elicit a strong immunological response.

The Company's lead clinical program, IMNN-001, is a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of advanced ovarian cancer that has completed multiple clinical trials including one Phase 2 clinical trial (OVATION 2) and is currently conducting a Phase 3 clinical trial (OVATION 3). IMNN-001 works by instructing the body to produce safe and durable levels of powerful cancer-fighting molecules, such as interleukin-12 and interferon gamma, at the tumor site. Additionally, the Company has completed dosing in a first-in-human study of its COVID-19 booster vaccine (IMNN-101). The Company will continue to leverage these modalities and to advance, either directly or through partnership, the technological frontier of plasmid DNA to better serve patients with difficult-to-treat conditions. For more information, please visit www.imunon.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

IMUNON wishes to inform readers that forward-looking statements in this letter are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the expected reduction of operating expenses related to the strategic reorganization, the timing and enrollment of the Company's clinical trials, the potential of any therapies developed by the Company to fulfill unmet medical needs, the market potential for the Company's products, if approved, the potential efficacy and safety profile of our product candidates, and the Company's plans and expectations with respect to its development programs more generally, are forward-looking statements. We generally identify forward-looking statements by using words such as "may," "will," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend" and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances). Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, uncertainties relating to unforeseen changes in the course of research and development activities and in clinical trials, including the fact that interim results are not necessarily indicative of final results; the uncertainties of and difficulties in analyzing interim clinical data; the significant expense, time and risk of failure in conducting clinical trials; the need for IMUNON to evaluate its future development plans; possible actions by customers, suppliers, competitors or regulatory authorities; and other risks detailed from time to time in IMUNON's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. IMUNON assumes no obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events, new information or otherwise.

Contacts:

Media	Investors
Jenna Urban	Peter Vozzo
CG life	ICR Healthcare
212-253-8881	443-213-0505
jurban@cglife.com	peter.vozzo@icrhealthcare.com

IMUNON SHARPENS FOCUS ON ITS PROMISING PIVOTAL PHASE 3 OVARIAN CANCER STUDY