CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, January 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Mersana, a cancer therapeutics company, announced today that John H. van Duzer, Ph.D. has joined the company as Vice President of Manufacturing & Pharmaceutical Sciences.

"John van Duzer adds a critical component to the Mersana management team with his manufacturing and development experience," said Julie A. Olson, Ph.D., President and CEO at Mersana. "As a clinical development-stage company, manufacturing plays a key role in the advancement of our products and John's contributions will impact our entire pipeline. We are also fortunate that John's early experience in research enables the seamless transition of candidates from research into development."

Dr. van Duzer has over eighteen years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D. As a Vice President of Manufacturing at ActivBiotics, he led efforts for the development of a liquid dosage form of a rifamycin, an oral antibacterial agent. Prior to joining ActivBiotics, Dr. van Duzer served as the Director of Chemistry at Inotek Corporation, a clinical-stage, drug development company. Prior to joining Inotek, Dr. van Duzer worked as a medicinal chemist in the research group of Ciba-Geigy and subsequently Novartis for twelve years. Most notable is his invention of lumiracoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor currently sold in a number of countries. He is a co-author of over a dozen scientific publications and is an inventor on numerous US and international patents. He received his BA in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University.

About Mersana Therapeutics, Inc.

Mersana, a privately held, venture backed company, utilizes its proprietary nanotechnology platform to transform existing and experimental anti-cancer agents into new, patentable drugs with superior pharmaceutical properties. The key component of Mersana's platform is Fleximer(R), a novel, biodegradable and bio-inert polymer hat can be chemically linked to small molecules and biologics. Mersana's pipeline includes XMT-1001, a Fleximer-camptothecin conjugate which is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials, and several preclinical oncology compounds. Mersana's investors include Fidelity Biosciences, ProQuest Investments, Rho Ventures, Harris & Harris Group and PureTech Ventures.

Fleximer(R) is a trademark of Mersana Therapeutics, Inc.

Pete Leone, Chief Operating Officer of Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., +1-617-498-0020; or Media, Kathryn Morris of KMorrisPR for Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., +1-845-635-9828, kathryn@kmorrispr.com