IMUNON Reports First Quarter 2023 Financial Results and Provides Business Update Non-Viral DNA-Mediated Immunotherapy and Next-Generation Vaccine Programs with Multiple Near-Term Milestones Supported by a Strong Balance

Reports First Quarter 2023 Financial Results and Provides Business Update

DNA-Mediated Immunotherapy and Next-Generation Vaccine Programs with Multiple Near-Term Milestones Supported by a Strong Balance Sheet

Call Begins Today at 11:00 a.m. EDT

N.J. (May 11, 2023) - IMUNON, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMNN), a clinical-stage drug-development

company focused on developing non-viral DNA-mediated immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, today announced financial results

for the three months ended March 31, 2023, and provided an update on its clinical development programs with IMNN-001 (formerly GEN-1),

a DNA-based interleukin-12 (IL-12) immunotherapy in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of advanced-stage ovarian cancer,

and PLACCINE, a proprietary, multivalent DNA plasmid technology utilizing synthetic, non-viral vaccine delivery vectors being evaluated

in preclinical studies for superiority over the current generation of nucleic acid vaccines.

of the first quarter of 2023 and recent weeks include:

PLACCINE modality continues to advance with very promising data. We demonstrated the validity of this proprietary technology in prophylactic

vaccines, with impressive proof-of-concept data in a COVID-19 model coupled with final data from non-human primate studies showing excellent

immunological response and viral clearance. We also demonstrated in a recent mouse study that a single dose of our PLACCINE vaccine without

a booster dose produced longer duration of IgG responses and higher T-cell activation than an mRNA vaccine. We are now more than nine

months into a 12-month PLACCINE stability study and have demonstrated continued drug stability at the standard refrigerated temperature

of 4 C, representing a significant commercial advantage over mRNA-based vaccines," said Dr. Corinne Le Goff, IMUNON's

President and Chief Executive Officer.

March we applied for a pre-IND consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to receive guidance on our proposed program

for our seasonal COVID-19 booster vaccine prior to submitting an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA in the fourth

quarter of 2023. Our objective is to confirm in a Phase 1 clinical study the safety of our PLACCINE modality. We will also select our

next pathogen target for our PLACCINE modality. We likely will choose a pathogen from the list of priority pathogens established by the

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Our vaccine program objective is to establish the safety and efficacy of our platform

in a Phase 1 human study, and then seek to license this powerful technology to pharmaceutical companies for the utilization of our platform

and/or to establish non-dilutive partnerships to develop vaccines for pathogens of interest," she added.

have now developed an in-house pilot manufacturing capability for DNA plasmids and nanoparticle delivery systems. Our scientists can

select any protein from the human or pathogen proteomes to be engineered. Our existing labs also have the ability to conduct testing

and to run experiments in a variety of animal disease models. These internal capabilities will allow us to control both the costs and

the development timelines in support of our goal to attract corporate partners.

the continued volatility of the public equity markets, our decision to raise significant capital in 2021 and early 2022 to extend our

cash runway into 2025 was well timed. We expect to report several value-creating developments over the next six to 18 months, among them

reporting additional interim data on IMNN-001 from our OVATION 2 Study and the combination study with bevacizumab in advanced ovarian

cancer, reporting topline data from the OVATION 2 Study, filing the IND for our SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and announcing proof-of-concept vaccine

data for our next pathogen," Dr. Le Goff concluded.

Developing the Prophylactic Vaccines of the Future

at Vaccine Technology Summit 2023 Describes Compelling Preclinical Data Supporting Continued Development of PLACCINE as a Differentiated,

Next-Generation Vaccine. In March 2023 Khursheed Anwer, Ph.D., IMUNON's Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer,

presented data on the Company's PLACCINE platform at the Vaccine Technology Summit 2023. Dr. Anwer's presentation is titled

"A Novel DNA Vaccine Platform with Potential to Create Next Generation Vaccines," and can be found on the Company's

Anwer reviewed the company's work in advancing its PLACCINE modality and the promising preclinical data generated to date. Among

topics presented was the ability of this multi-valent technology to achieve broad spectrum immunity from a single DNA plasmid with a

synthetic delivery system. This ability is independent of virus, device or liquid nanoparticle formulations. The data presented showed:

addition, the PLACCINE modality had important distinguishing advantages for a commercial vaccine, including a shelf-life at 4 C

for greater than nine months, and the ability for simple, rapid and scalable manufacturing.

1/2 Clinical Study of IMNN-001 in Combination with Bevacizumab in Advanced Ovarian Cancer was Opened to Enrollment. In February 2023,

the company announced a collaboration to evaluate IMNN-001 in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination

with bevacizumab in ovarian cancer in the frontline, neoadjuvant setting. Working with four of the foremost comprehensive cancer centers

in the world, the goal of this project is to transform the care of women with ovarian cancer by developing unprecedented capabilities

for understanding and targeting persistent minimal residual disease (MRD), as explained here.

new Phase 1/2 study is expected to enroll 50 patients with Stage III/IV advanced ovarian cancer and is being led by principal investigator

Amir Jazaeri, M.D., Professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at MD Anderson. A third party will partially fund the

trial is open to enrollment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with expected

additional participation at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will provide artificial intelligence

services throughout the trial, including biomarker and genomic analyses, which is expected to expand the company's knowledge of

the treatment paradigm.

at American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Describes Findings from Mouse Model of Peritoneally Disseminated Ovarian Cancer Suggest

Biweekly Dosing Regimen for Further Evaluation in Human Clinical Studies. In April 2023 Jean Boyer,

Ph.D., IMUNON's vice president of preclinical research, presented a poster titled

"Efficacy of IMNN-001, an Interleukin-12 Immune Gene Therapy, at Different Dose Frequencies" at AACR. The poster can be found

on the company's website here.

concluded that IMNN-001 demonstrated stimulation of the immune response in the ID8 ovarian tumor model. Of the three dosing regimens

tested, the once every 2-week regimen demonstrated comparability to the weekly regimen while showing superiority to the once every 3-week

regimen, particularly with respect to mortality and tumor burden. Thus, exploring once every 2-week dosing of IMNN-001 in human studies

Collaborations and Corporate Developments

Research Agreement Signed with The Wistar Institute's Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center. In January 2023, the Company announced

a collaborative research agreement with The Wistar Institute, a global leader in biomedical research, through its Vaccine & Immunotherapy

Center, to research and develop new vaccine formulations utilizing the Company's PLACCINE modality for the development of vaccines

for infectious diseases. The Wistar Institute Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center possesses world-renowned expertise in cancer, immunology,

infectious diseases and vaccine creation. They are uniquely positioned to advance new vaccine formulations and will facilitate further

expansion and development of PLACCINE with the goal of expanding vaccine targets ideally matched for the Company's novel formulated

DNA delivery platform.

$1.6 Million in Non-Dilutive Funding from the Sale of New Jersey Net Operating Losses. In January 2023, the Company announced it

received $1.6 million in net cash proceeds from the sale of approximately $1.7 million of its unused New Jersey net operating losses

(NOLs). The NOL sales cover the tax year 2021 and are administered through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's (NJEDA)

Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) program. This non-dilutive funding further strengthened the Company's balance

sheet. The Company plans to sell an additional $1.9 million of unused New Jersey NOLs available to the Company under the program in 2023.

quarter Financial Results

reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2023 of $5.6 million, or $0.68 per share, compared with a net loss of $10.5 million, or

$1.82 per share, for the first quarter of 2022. Operating expenses were $5.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, a decrease of $0.3

million or 5% from $6.0 million for the first quarter of 2022.

cash used for operating activities was $4.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $8.0 million for the comparable prior-year

period. This decrease was primarily due to the one-time payment of $4.5 million in interest expense resulting from the sale and subsequent

redemption of $30.0 million of convertible, redeemable preferred stock during the first quarter of 2022.

provided by financing activities of $2.5 million during the first quarter of 2023 resulted from equity sales under the Company's

At-the-Market Equity Facility. The Company had $37.3 million in

cash, investments and restricted cash as of March 31, 2023. Combined with $1.9 million in

planned future sales of the Company's State of New Jersey NOLs, the Company believes it has sufficient capital resources to fund

its operations into 2025.

and development (R&D) expenses were $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2023, a decrease of $0.5 million from $3.1 million for

the comparable period in 2022. R&D costs associated with the development of IMNN-001 to support the OVATION 2 Study as well as development

of the PLACCINE DNA vaccine technology platform increased to $1.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $1.9 million for

the same period of 2022. Other clinical and regulatory costs were $0.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $0.8 million

for the first quarter of 2022. CMC costs increased to $0.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $0.3 million for the

first quarter of 2022 due to higher costs related to the development of in-house pilot manufacturing capabilities for DNA plasmids and

nanoparticle delivery systems.

and administrative expenses were $3.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $2.9 million for the comparable prior-year

period. This increase was primarily attributable to lower non-cash stock compensation expense offset by higher professional fees, including