On February 1, 2023 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 medical need, reported that patient dosing is underway in the expansion portion of its UPGRADE-A clinical trial of UpRi in combination with carboplatin in platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer (Press release, Mersana Therapeutics, FEB 1, 2023, View Source [SID1234626712]). UpRi is Mersana’s first-in-class NaPi2b-targeting ADC with a novel scaffold-linker-payload designed to enable a high drug-to-antibody ratio and controlled bystander effect.
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"While the combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel has historically served as the standard of care in early lines of therapy for platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, it is limited by distinct tolerability and side effect challenges that can include severe neutropenia, peripheral neuropathy and alopecia," said Dr. Arvin Yang, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Mersana Therapeutics. "With UPGRADE-A, we are investigating the potential benefits of replacing paclitaxel with UpRi in the induction phase of treatment and then continuing UpRi as maintenance monotherapy. We are pleased to enter this exciting new phase of the trial."
UPGRADE-A is a Phase 1 open-label trial evaluating the combination of UpRi and carboplatin in patients with platinum-sensitive high-grade serous ovarian cancer following one to three prior lines of treatment. Patients in the trial receive combination treatment every four weeks for six cycles followed by UpRi as a single-agent maintenance therapy. While patients in the trial are not preselected for NaPi2b-positive status, archival or fresh tissue is required for retrospective assessment of expression.
The escalation portion of the trial investigated carboplatin combined with UpRi doses up to 36 mg/m2. There were no dose-limiting toxicities at this dose level. Consistent with Mersana’s UP-NEXT Phase 3 clinical trial, a 30mg/m2 dose of UpRi has been chosen for the dose expansion portion of UPGRADE-A. Mersana expects to report interim data from UPGRADE-A in the second half of 2023.