ERNA-201 demonstrated encouraging disease-modifying activity in the industry-standard collagen-induced arthritis model, providing meaningful proof-of-concept for Ernexa’s engineered synthetic iMSC platform beyond oncology
Positive ERNA-201 findings add to a growing body of preclinical evidence supporting the versatility of Ernexa’s synthetic iMSC platform and its ability to deliver engineered therapeutic factors in disease
Company is concentrating near-term resources on ERNA-101 while broadening its oncology strategy and advancing next-generation iMSC candidates across additional high-need cancer indications
ERNA-201 remains an important platform asset with demonstrated preclinical proof-of-concept, preserving future development and strategic optionality
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ernexa Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ERNA), an industry innovator developing novel cell therapies for the treatment of advanced cancers, today announced positive preliminary preclinical results for ERNA-201, its synthetic, allogeneic induced mesenchymal stem cell (iMSC) therapy engineered to express anti-inflammatory factors, while outlining a sharpened oncology strategy designed to accelerate the Company’s transition into the clinic and expand the long-term potential of its proprietary synthetic iMSC platform.
In preliminary studies using the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model, an industry-standard preclinical model for rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory joint disease, several ERNA-201 lead candidates demonstrated reductions in disease severity relative to untreated controls, including improvements in clinical arthritis scores consistent with the therapy’s intended anti-inflammatory mechanism of action.
Ernexa believes these results represent an important scientific milestone: ERNA-201 demonstrated meaningful preclinical proof-of-concept in inflammatory disease, providing additional evidence that the Company’s engineered iMSC platform can be programmed to deliver therapeutically relevant factors across distinct disease settings.
With this platform validation in hand, Ernexa is concentrating its near-term capital and operational resources on what management believes represents the Company’s most immediate opportunity to create value for patients and shareholders: advancing ERNA-101 into a first-in-human clinical study in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC).
Importantly, the decision to prioritize ERNA-101 does not reflect a change in Ernexa’s conviction in ERNA-201 or its underlying biology. Rather, following the positive ERNA-201 proof-of-concept results, the Company believes it has reached an appropriate point to preserve the program while directing near-term resources toward achieving clinical validation of its platform in oncology.
“We believe the ERNA-201 results are an important validation of both the program and the broader potential of our synthetic iMSC platform,” said Sanjeev Luther, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ernexa Therapeutics. “ERNA-201 did what we wanted to see at this stage: it generated an encouraging proof-of-concept signal in an established inflammatory disease model and demonstrated the potential to engineer our iMSCs for therapeutic activity beyond cancer. That success gives us the confidence to preserve the significant future opportunity represented by ERNA-201 while concentrating our resources on the milestone directly ahead of us, bringing ERNA-101 into the clinic.”
Mr. Luther continued, “Our objective is bigger than advancing a single candidate. We are building a differentiated oncology company around a scalable, off-the-shelf cell therapy platform. With ERNA-101 on track for FDA IND submission before year end, we believe Ernexa is approaching a potentially defining inflection point. We intend to execute against that milestone with urgency while broadening our oncology pipeline and identifying additional cancers where our platform could make a meaningful difference.”
ERNA-201: Positive Data Strengthen Validation of Ernexa’s iMSC Platform
ERNA-201 is engineered to express anti-inflammatory factors designed to target inflammation and treat autoimmune disease. In completed preliminary studies, ERNA-201 was evaluated in the CIA model, which is widely used to assess potential therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory joint diseases.
Mice treated with several ERNA-201 lead candidates demonstrated reductions in disease severity relative to untreated controls, including improvements in clinical arthritis scores. Ernexa believes the findings are consistent with the candidate’s intended anti-inflammatory mechanism and provide meaningful proof-of-concept support for the use of synthetic, cytokine-engineered iMSCs in inflammatory and autoimmune disease.
“Seeing disease-modifying activity from ERNA-201 in the collagen-induced arthritis model is an encouraging scientific result,” said Robert H. Pierce, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Ernexa Therapeutics. “These findings support the underlying thesis that engineered iMSCs can serve as a versatile therapeutic delivery platform. We designed ERNA-201 to deliver anti-inflammatory factors in disease, and the preliminary activity we observed is consistent with that objective. From a scientific perspective, these data increase our confidence in the program and provide another important validation point for the broader platform.”
The ERNA-201 results are particularly important to Ernexa because the program employs the same fundamental synthetic iMSC platform architecture that underpins the Company’s broader pipeline. While ERNA-201 is engineered for anti-inflammatory activity and ERNA-101 is engineered to stimulate an immune response against cancer, both programs demonstrate the potential versatility of an allogeneic, scalable cell platform that can be engineered for distinct therapeutic purposes.
Building Momentum Toward the Clinic: ERNA-101 Advancing Toward Planned IND Submission in Q4 2026
With ERNA-201 generating positive preliminary proof-of-concept data, Ernexa is prioritizing the next major milestone in the Company’s evolution: advancing ERNA-101 toward a planned IND submission for a first-in-human clinical study in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
ERNA-101 is Ernexa’s lead oncology cell therapy candidate, engineered to express an IL-7/IL-15 fusion cytokine designed to activate and regulate the immune system’s response to recognize and attack cancer cells.
The Company is focused on advancing ERNA-101 toward a planned IND submission in the fourth quarter of 2026. Ernexa believes achieving this milestone would represent an important step toward the Company’s transition from a preclinical development company to a clinical-stage oncology company and the generation of human clinical evidence necessary to evaluate the therapeutic potential of its platform.
Clinical data from the ERNA-101 PROC study are expected in Q4 2027, providing the Company with a series of potential clinical and operational milestones over the coming 12–18 months.
A Focused Oncology Strategy Built Around One Scalable Platform
Ernexa’s strategy extends beyond a single indication or product candidate. The Company’s proprietary platform begins with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are engineered and transformed into synthetic induced mesenchymal stem cells. The resulting allogeneic iMSCs are designed to provide a scalable, off-the-shelf therapeutic approach without the need for patient-specific cell harvesting.
Management believes this architecture creates the potential to engineer iMSCs with different therapeutic factors and apply the platform across multiple diseases. The positive preliminary ERNA-201 findings provide additional support for that platform thesis, while ERNA-101 now represents the Company’s most advanced opportunity to demonstrate its potential in patients.
As Ernexa moves toward the clinic, the Company intends to broaden the scope of its oncology program by evaluating additional high-need cancer indications and advancing next-generation iMSC candidates designed to build on the Company’s existing scientific and manufacturing capabilities.
The Company will prioritize opportunities based on scientific rationale, unmet patient need, commercial potential and capital efficiency, including opportunities that may be pursued internally or through strategic collaborations.
Disciplined Capital Allocation: Advancing the Nearest Value-Creating Milestones
Following the encouraging ERNA-201 results, Ernexa has elected to pause additional preclinical development expenditures on ERNA-201 at this time and preserve the program while concentrating near-term resources on ERNA-101 and the expansion of its oncology pipeline.
The decision is a capital allocation priority rather than a scientific decision to discontinue ERNA-201. The Company believes the positive preliminary results provide a foundation from which ERNA-201 could potentially be advanced in the future as resources, strategic priorities and development opportunities warrant.
“We have achieved an important objective with ERNA-201 by generating encouraging proof-of-concept data,” Luther said. “The question for us now is not whether we believe in the program. We do. The question is where each incremental dollar and each hour of our team’s effort can have the greatest impact today. With ERNA-101 approaching the clinic, we believe concentrating resources behind first-patient dosing and expanding our oncology opportunity is the most disciplined path forward.”
“We are preserving ERNA-201’s future potential while accelerating the program that is closest to human clinical validation. We believe that the combination of scientific validation, disciplined execution and a clear path into the clinic positions Ernexa for an important next chapter.”
Multiple Potential Catalysts Ahead
Over the coming 12–18 months, Ernexa intends to:
- Submit ERNA-101 IND in Q4 2026 for a first-in-human clinical study in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer;
- Generate clinical data from the ERNA-101 PROC program, currently expected in Q4 2027;
- Continue generating translational and preclinical evidence designed to strengthen validation of the synthetic iMSC platform;
- Evaluate opportunities to expand the platform into additional high-need oncology indications;
- Advance next-generation synthetic iMSC oncology candidates;
- Explore strategic collaborations that could accelerate or broaden the application of Ernexa’s technology; and
- Maintain disciplined capital allocation focused on milestones management believes can create the greatest value for patients and shareholders.
“We believe we are entering one of the most consequential periods in Ernexa’s development,” Luther concluded. “ERNA-201 has provided encouraging evidence that our engineering approach can translate into therapeutic activity in a well-established disease model. ERNA-101 is approaching the clinic. And behind it is a platform we believe can be engineered and deployed against multiple high-need cancers. Our focus now is execution, reaching the clinic, generating human data and building a broader oncology pipeline capable of creating sustainable value.”
For more information about ERNA-101 and the Company’s development plans, visit www.ernexatx.com.
About Ernexa Therapeutics
Ernexa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ERNA) is developing innovative cell therapies for the treatment of advanced cancers. Ernexa’s core technology focuses on engineering induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and transforming them into induced mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs). Ernexa’s allogeneic synthetic iMSCs provide a scalable, off-the-shelf treatment solution, without needing patient-specific cell harvesting.
ERNA-101 is the company’s lead cell therapy product, designed to activate and regulate the immune system’s response to recognize and attack cancer cells. The company’s initial focus is to develop ERNA-101 for the treatment of ovarian cancer, with the potential to address multiple difficult-to-treat solid tumors.
For more information, visit www.ernexatx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, in some cases, can be identified by terms such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “design,” “intend,” “expect,” “could,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “would,” “contemplate,” “project,” “target,” “objective,” or the negative version of these words and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Ernexa’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to: the Company’s ability to advance ERNA-101 toward and submit an IND application to the FDA, including the planned submission in Q4 2026; the timing, design and outcomes of the planned first-in-human clinical study of ERNA-101 in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, including the expected availability of clinical data in Q4 2027; the Company’s ability to transition from a preclinical-stage company to a clinical-stage company; expectations regarding the versatility and therapeutic potential of the Company’s synthetic iMSC platform, including its ability to be engineered for distinct therapeutic purposes across oncology and other disease areas; the Company’s plans to broaden its oncology pipeline by evaluating additional high-need cancer indications and advancing next-generation iMSC candidates; the Company’s ability to identify, develop and advance additional product candidates; the Company’s capital allocation strategy, including the decision to pause additional preclinical development expenditures on ERNA-201 and concentrate near-term resources on ERNA-101 and oncology pipeline expansion; the potential for ERNA-201 to be advanced in the future; the Company’s ability to enter into strategic collaborations or partnerships; the sufficiency of the Company’s capital resources to fund planned operations and achieve anticipated milestones; the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for its product candidates; the Company’s ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the Company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and proprietary technology; competition from other companies developing therapies for the same or similar indications; and general market, political and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based upon Ernexa’s current expectations and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to be incorrect. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. For a detailed description of Ernexa’s risks and uncertainties, you are encouraged to review its documents filed with the SEC including its recent filings on Form 8-K, Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they were made. Ernexa does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof, except as required by applicable law.
Media Contact
Sharon Golubchik
RAYNZ
sharon@raynzhealth.com
Investor Contact
Jenene Thomas
JTC Team, LLC
(908) 824-0775
ERNA@jtcir.com
