Women Leading Biotech: Advancing Treatments for Ovarian Cancer

IMUNON, a clinical-stage company, currently has a DNA-mediated immunotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer in phase 3 development. The company’s TheraPlas platform utilizes a an IL-12 DNA plasmid vector encased in a synthetic nanoparticle delivery system that enables cell transfection to produce and secrete the IL-12 protein directly into the tumormicroenvironment.

PharmTech spoke with Dr. Stacy Lindborg, president and CEO of IMUNON, about the company’s immunotherapy, her background in biotech, and her philosophy on leadership.

Can you please introduce yourself and give our audience a bit of background on your role and expertise?

Lindborg (IMUNON): My name is Dr. Stacy Lindborg, and I am the president and CEO of IMUNON, a clinical-stage company in phase 3 development with our lead DNA-mediated immunotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. I have worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for about 30 years. After graduating from Baylor University with a PhD in statistics, I wanted to use my STEM training to help tackle real-world problems affecting family members, friends, and the broader community, and turned to the world of biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals, where I could help create a meaningful impact in areas of significant unmet medical need such as ovarian cancer.

Over the past 30 years, I have provided strategic counsel and leadership across R&D, regulatory affairs, analytics and clinical data, executive management and strategy development in both US and international markets. My expertise lies in empowering my team, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation and guiding long-term visions for growth. Early on in my career, one of my biggest takeaways was that leadership is not primarily about your talent and having all the answers—it is about learning what you can do with a supportive team behind you.

At IMUNON, I am fortunate to work with such a talented and dedicated team and together we have made great strides in the last year alone, reporting unprecedented clinical data of our novel IL-12 immunotherapy and advancing into phase 3 in our journey to transform the ovarian cancer treatment landscape for women who desperately need new treatment options.

How can women help improve innovation within the pharma industry?

There have been prior studies showing that women consistently underestimate their abilities to lead in any industry. But interestingly, this can be leveraged as a strength. Even as experts in the biopharmaceutical industry, many women leaders are dedicated to learning, humility, and growth, which can help foster healthy debates, remove barriers to allow teams to move forward quickly, and create a more collaborative and inclusive environment where many different perspectives are valued, which is essential to advance innovative science.

Through our work at IMUNON to drive progress in frontline treatment for advanced ovarian cancer, it is very important to seek insights from as many people as possible, not only at the company but also from outside experts and the families who are impacted daily by this disease to better inform our research efforts. For example, I have spoken to women and cancer survivors at events, such as a recent National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC) walk, who encouraged their daughters to get tested for genetic mutations associated with ovarian cancer so they could better understand their personal risk of developing the disease. In these conversations, I imagine what it might be like if my own daughter were diagnosed, which carries a much heavier image than imagining myself in the same place. I connect with these women who only want more time to see who their children will grow up to be. Their stories are incredibly humbling, revealing, and reinforce my passion for our research and commitment to the goal of extending overall survival for women living with advanced ovarian cancer. Leading with empathy, as a woman and as a mother, is a real strength in the pharmaceutical industry.

Is there a specific lesson you have learned from being the CEO of a life-sciences company?

I did not initially aspire to be a CEO. Occasionally, some people have said that my statistics background makes me a bit of a non-typical CEO in the life sciences and biotechnology fields. I remember early in my career listening to an all-employee meeting being led by Eli Lilly’s prior CEO John Lechleiter, who has a PhD in organic chemistry, and wondering if any statistician had risen to these ranks. Many years later, when considering taking on the CEO role at IMUNON, initially joining the team as a Board member, one valuable conversation with a well-known scientist instilled a crucial lesson for me about leading in this industry—no one is uniquely positioned for the CEO role. We all come to the table with specialized knowledge in hand that is important to the core of life sciences, and with areas in which we are not experts. No matter your background, being dedicated to learning, understanding how to face uncertainty, and empowering your team makes you fit to lead.

In the past 30 years, I have also come to understand the value of a servant leadership style grounded in humility and learning, which can be a catalyst for growth. The most critical factor that I must think about as the leader of my organization is my team and how my team will accomplish the very difficult task of delivering a novel therapeutic to extend the life of people with ovarian cancer. By surrounding yourself with brilliant people, relying on them, empowering them, seeking their input, and letting their insights factor into your decision-making, you help create a culture of collaboration, productivity, and nimbleness that is essential for propelling innovative research forward.

What are you currently working on that you are passionate about?

Our mission at IMUNON is to advance novel immunotherapies that harness the body’s natural immune system to fight serious diseases. Currently, we are focused on our ovarian cancer program. We are advancing a DNA-based immunotherapy that harnesses the well-known cancer-fighting molecule interleukin-12 (IL-12), designed using our proprietary TheraPlas platform technology. Our therapy is an IL-12 DNA plasmid vector encased in a synthetic nanoparticle delivery system that enables cell transfection followed by durable, local production and secretion of the IL-12 protein directly into the tumor microenvironment of women with advanced ovarian cancer. Essentially, we give the body a recipe for seeing the tumors—ovarian cancers are immunologically ‘cold,’ meaning the body cannot see them—and for allowing our therapeutic to change the intraperitoneal cavity where the cancer resides to a ‘hot’ tumor microenvironment. It is an amazing process.

We have had positive and unprecedented clinical data thus far, which are very encouraging. Results from our phase 2 OVATION 2 trial, which were presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in Gynecologic Oncology, demonstrated that our therapy was the first to achieve a clinically effective response in advanced (stage IIIC/IV) ovarian cancer including benefits in both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a first-line treatment setting when used with standard of care chemotherapy. Our goal is to launch a first-in-class IL-12 immunotherapy and with this to provide the first frontline immunotherapy for women with advanced ovarian cancer, a field that has not seen treatment innovation for about 30 years or longer. We are well on our way as we quickly advance this therapy in our phase 3 trial, and enrollment continues to generate strong interest.

It is time for women to have more options; they need a new treatment that is safe, durable, and affects survival outcomes, giving them more time with their loved ones. When I hear clinicians and our trial investigators speak about the conversations they have with patients, they discuss not having better options available. And unfortunately, the outcomes on the current standard of care are poor, and there is a high rate of disease recurrence. The potential to bring these women an option that may extend their lives and genuinely transform the standard of care is incredibly fulfilling. It is the reason we work so hard in this industry—to advance patient care and provide value—and it is a privilege and honor to have this opportunity.

What exciting innovations do you see on the horizon for the pharmaceutical industry?

I see significant momentum building around next‑generation immunotherapies and more precise delivery technologies. In oncology, continued progress in DNA‑based approaches and non‑viral delivery systems such as our IL-12 immunotherapy could open the door to more targeted and tolerable treatment options. These platforms are designed to direct therapeutic agents—such as cancer-fighting cytokines—into the tumor microenvironment in ways that may stimulate strong, localized immune responses while reducing broader systemic effects.

More broadly, I believe the industry will increasingly focus on technologies that improve specificity, enhance durability of response and lower toxicity across cancer types. Advances in genomic medicine, computational modeling, and biomaterial engineering are converging to help researchers understand how to modulate immune activity more precisely. As these tools mature, we may see meaningful improvements in the treatment of historically challenging cancers.

About the interviewee

Dr. Stacy Lindborg is president and CEO of IMUNON, a clinical-stage company in phase 3 development with a lead DNA-mediated immunotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. Dr. Lindborg has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for about 30 years. She graduated from Baylor University with a PhD in statistics.

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Lindborg has provided strategic counsel and leadership across R&D, regulatory affairs, analytics and clinical data, executive management. and strategy development in both US and international markets. Her expertise lies in empowering her team, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation and guiding long-term visions for growth.

IMUNON has reported unprecedented clinical data of its novel IL-12 immunotherapy and advancing into phase 3 to transform the ovarian cancer treatment landscape for women who desperately need new treatment options.