Appointment Strengthens Development Leadership to Support Growing Pipeline of Innovative ADCs
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a pipeline of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting cancers in areas of high unmet need, today announced the appointment of Dirk Huebner, M.D., to the position of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Huebner brings to this position 25 years of drug development experience including significant experience in the development and approval of ADCs.
“We are excited for Dirk to join Mersana and bring his deep experience in the field of ADC clinical development. Dirk’s direct experience in the European approval and label expansion activities supporting ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) will help us build on our leading clinical development organization and prepare for the next steps in the development of XMT-1536 and XMT-1522,” said Anna Protopapas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mersana. “We believe this deep experience will also accelerate our ability to develop our growing ADC pipeline as we move forward on our Dolaflexin, Dolasynthen and Alkymer platforms.”
“I’m pleased to join Mersana at a time of important growth for the company,” said Dr. Huebner. “Mersana’s innovative platforms, robust discovery efforts and promising clinical programs hold tremendous promise to address significant unmet patient needs. I am looking forward to working with such a noteworthy and experienced leadership team and working with the company to bring innovative new medicines to patients.”
Prior to joining Mersana, Dr. Huebner served as Vice President, Head of Development, for Boston Biomedical, where he built a robust clinical development team and oversaw the clinical development of several early stage compounds. Prior to that, he spent six years at Takeda Oncology as Executive Medical Director. During Dr. Huebner’s tenure at Takeda Oncology, he served as the global clinical lead for ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin), an ADC that treats select types of lymphoma. In that role, he led the regulatory approval of ADCETRIS in Europe and the design and implementation of the subsequent registration-enabling studies for the compound. Prior to Takeda, he held roles of increasing leadership in global oncology drug development at Genzyme, Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Huebner received his Medical Doctor degree from the Free University in Berlin, Germany and completed a medical residency in the Department of Urology, University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg.
About Mersana Therapeutics
Mersana Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using its differentiated and proprietary ADC platforms to develop highly targeted drugs with increased tolerability and expanded opportunities to deliver meaningful clinical benefit to patients. Mersana’s product candidate XMT-1522 is in Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with advanced tumors expressing HER2, including breast cancer, non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC) and gastric cancer patients. The Company’s second product candidate, XMT-1536, is in Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with tumors expressing NaPi2b, including ovarian cancer, NSCLC and other cancers. In addition, multiple partners are using Mersana’s platform to advance their ADC pipelines.
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