US-based pharmaceutical company Mersana Therapeutics secured $35m yesterday in a series B-1 round featuring pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s corporate venturing arm Pfizer Venture Investments.
New Enterprise Associates led the round, which also included fund manager Fidelity Worldwide Investments’ pharmaceutical investment arm Fidelity Biosciences, Rock Springs Capital Management and Elliott Sigal, former head of research and development at biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Fleximer, Mersana’s lead product, is able to deliver anti-tumour drugs to a targeted cell through the bloodstream. The funding will support advancement of the company’s product pipeline and its first filing for an investigational new drug later this year.
Mersana raised $14.5m in equity and securities in 2013, according to regulatory filings. Pfizer took part in the company’s $27m series A-1 round in 2012, which was led by NEA and bcked by Fidelity Biosciences, ProQuest Investments, Harris and Harris Group and Rho Ventures.
In 2005, Mersana secured $21m in a round led by Fidelity Biosciences and ProQuest Investments, with Rho Ventures and existing seed round investors PureTech Ventures, Cape Family Fund, Harris and Harris Group and Lansing Brown Investments also participating.
The company has not disclosed further details about its seed round, but according to an SEC filing it secured $10m in debt financing in 2012.