Mersana Therapeutics

Mersana Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) to treat cancer. It uses its proprietary ADC platforms to design, test, and advance its pipelines. It has four platforms: 1) DolaLock technology (with controlled bystander effect), 2) Dolaflexin (ability to carry multiple drug molecules), 3) Dolasynthen (ability to generate homogeneous ADCs), and 4) Immunosynthen (capable of inducing anti-tumor activity).

Mersana’s lead product candidate, upifitamab rilsodotin (UpRi), targeting NaPi2b, is undergoing trials to treat ovarian cancer and was in Phase III of clinical trials as of December 2022. In addition, it was developing two other ADC programs in clinical and preclinical studies: 1) XMT-2056, which is designed to treat HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor, which is a protein that promotes cancer growth and the company planned to initiate a Phase I trial during 2022, and 2) XMT-1660, which is designed to target B7-H4 to treat multiple solid tumors and is also in Phase I of clinical trials. In May 2022, the FDA granted an orphan drug designation to XMT-2056 for the treatment of patients with gastric cancers. Its collaboration with Asana Biosciences, ASN004, was in Phase 1 clinical trials targeting the 5T4 oncofetal antigen (trophoblast glycoprotein), which is expressed in a wide range of malignant tumors. The company also had four other undisclosed programs in preclinical studies and three programs in the discovery stage of the pipeline.

Key customers and partnerships

The company has several partners that are using its platforms to advance their ADC pipelines. In February 2022, the company signed a research collaboration and license agreement with Janssen Biotech to develop three ADC targets. Furthermore, the company partnered with pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in August 2022  to co-develop XMT-2026, receiving an initial payment of USD 100 million. 

Funding and financials

The company began trading on Nasdaq in June 2017 under the ticker symbol "MRSN," raising USD 75 million at its IPO. The company raised USD 174.8 million in June 2020 via a public offering consisting of 9.2 million shares priced at USD 19 per share. The new funds were used to advance XMT-1536 and XMT-1592 and for working capital, capital expenditures, and general expenses.

For the six months ended June 2023, the company is yet to generate revenue from drug sales. However, collaboration revenue for the same period was USD 18.5 million, increasing by almost 2x YoY. The company’s net loss increased by 11.1% YoY to USD 110.5 million for 1H 2023. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of June 30, 2023 were USD 286.6 million, compared to USD 280.7 million as of December 31, 2022. Mersana expects that its available funds will be sufficient to support its current operating plan commitments into 2026.