 |
| Chief Scientific Officer Timothy Lowinger |
Mersana Therapeutics thinks it's developed the next generation of cancer drugs.
Mersana has developed two compounds called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that connect small-molecule anticancer drugs and tumor-targeting antibodies in a single package. Those compounds have already shown promising results at targeting cancers with reduced toxicity in healthy tissues compared to currently available antitumor treatments, but the Cambridge, MA, biotech may have found a way to make its therapies even more effective.
Unveiled at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting April 6-10 in Washington, D.C., Mersana presented positive preclinical research for its novel ADC technology. Timothy Lowinger, the company's chief scientific officer, said Mersana has improved the properties of its molecules by adding a Fleximer to the ADCs.
"This technology allows us to attach as many as 20 drugs per antibody with very good properties," Lowinger explained in an interview with FierceBiotechResearch. "[With the Fleximer] we can load many more drugs and maintain good pharmacokinetics. This means we don't have to use the extremely toxic potent drugs."
At low doses, Mersana's new Fleximer antibody-drug conjugation technology completely cured HER2-positive breast tumors in mice.
In the new research findings, the key is how the polymer is attached to the antibodies--scientists at Mersana previously used a process called lysine modification to create its ADCs. This time, it used a method called cysteine conjugation and found that it had a "significantly higher capacity for drug payload, superior flexibility and improved physicochemical properties."
Lowinger said he believes Mersana's technology could be the future of cancer drug treatment because of its ability to deliver more drugs per antibody and load a wider variety of anticancer drugs than current ADC technology allows.
- here's the press release
Special Reports: Mersana Therapeutics - 2012 Fierce 15 | Mersana Therapeutics: Antibody-drug conjugates - 10 Next-Gen Biologics Platforms