CAMBRIDGE, MA — Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., 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, announced the appointment of Tushar Misra, Ph.D., as Chief Manufacturing Officer.
Misra replaces Michael Kaufman, Ph.D., who is retiring from Mersana after more than five years with the Company. Dr. Kaufman will remain at Mersana to ensure a smooth transition until September 10, 2021.
“Tushar is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with a track record in the scale up of manufacturing processes for small molecules, large-molecules and ADCs as well as the development and management of worldwide commercial supply chains. Through his career, Tushar has been involved in the development of 15 clinical stage molecules and the launch of 5 products. We are very excited to have him join the Mersana team, especially as we continue to advance the clinical development of UpRi for ovarian cancer in both the UPLIFT single-arm registrational strategy and the UPGRADE umbrella combination study and rapidly progress our pipeline of innovative ADC candidates,” said Anna Protopapas, President and CEO of Mersana. “I would like to thank Michael for his commitment to Mersana’s mission over the past five years. His contributions have been invaluable in advancing our innovative ADC candidate pipeline and building a highly experienced and productive team. I look forward to working with Michael to ensure a seamless transition of leadership and, on behalf of the entire Mersana team, I wish him all the best in his retirement.”
Misra was most recently EVP, Head of Technical Development & Manufacturing at Laronde, a platform company developing a novel, engineered form of RNA. While at Laronde, he led the process development and support team for end-to-end manufacturing for preclinical and clinical research. Before that, he was SVP, Technical Operations at Wave Life Sciences. Prior to Wave Life Sciences, Dr. Misra worked at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in several positions of increasing seniority, most recently as VP & Head, Global Oncology and Biologics Operations. While at Takeda, he built world-wide manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure for the company’s biologic and oncology commercial products including ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) and ENTYVIO® (vedolizumab). Earlier in his career, he held senior executive leadership roles in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously Sepracor, Inc.). Dr. Misra received his Ph.D. and M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Rhode Island and his B.Sc. with honors from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India.
“I am thrilled to join Mersana and am eager to work with Mersana’s experienced manufacturing team as we seek to advance UpRi toward commercialization and build out our maturing pipeline of innovative ADC candidates with the potential to address unmet medical needs across multiple different tumor types,” said Dr. Misra.
Dr. Kaufman commented, “It has been an honor to work with Anna and the entire Mersana team as we collectively advance our mission of discovering and developing life-changing ADCs for patients fighting cancer. I am confident that Tushar is well suited for this position and is supported by our seasoned and capable manufacturing team.”
