Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRX) announced on September 25, 2026, that new preclinical data regarding its lead drug candidate, Annamycin (naxtarubicin), indicates that the drug’s antitumor activity in pancreatic cancer is partially mediated by CD8+ T cell cytotoxicity.
The findings were presented at the AACR Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: New Frontiers in Biology and Therapeutic Development, held from September 25 to September 28, 2026, in San Diego, California. The presentation was titled "Turning cold pancreatic tumors hot: Antitumor activity of Annamycin is partially mediated by CD8+ T cell cytotoxicity" and was authored by Angela T. Alistar, MD, of Morristown Medical Center.
The data suggests that Annamycin may help expose tumors that are typically considered immunologically "cold" to immune attack. Pancreatic cancer is characterized by a "cold" immune microenvironment, which has contributed to the limited success of checkpoint inhibitors in treating the disease. The preclinical evidence points to a potential basis for combination approaches with the Company’s WP1066 program, which is an immune/transcription modulator.
The abstract for this presentation was published today as a supplement to the September 15, 2026 issue of Cancer Research. Moleculin emphasized that these findings were generated in preclinical models and are not currently part of the Company’s clinical development for pancreatic cancer.
Currently, Annamycin’s lead clinical program is the ongoing MIRACLE trial (MB-108), a pivotal, adaptive design, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2/3 trial evaluating Annamycin in combination with cytarabine for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
