Mersana Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical company developing Fleximer antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform, has closed a $27 million Series A-1 financing led by new investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

The proceeds from this financing will be used to advance Mersana's Fleximer-based ADC technology and to generate a pipeline of proprietary next-generation ADCs. In conjunction with the investment, NEA general partner David Mott will become chairman and Sara Nayeem, M.D., principal at NEA, will become a director. Mersana is the first biopharma investment for the recently announced $2.6 billion NEA 14 fund.

“Mersana's Fleximer antibody-drug conjugate platform has the potential to lead the emergence of the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates, which address limitations of the prior technologies and offer tremendous benefits to patients,” said Mott. “Mersana's technology enables a broader diversity of targeting agents, linkers, drugs and drug payloads, while allowing half-life, internalization and release parameters to be optimized for each product."

Mott added, "With the validation of the antibody-drug conjugate field behind us and tremendous potential ahead, we believe Mersana is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the drug development opportunities and surging strategic interest in the ADC field."

Participation in the round of financing also included new investor Pfizer Venture Investments and existing investors Fidelity Biosciences, ProQuest Investments, Rho Ventures and Harris and Harris Group.