FDA paus­es Mer­sana’s clin­i­cal tri­al af­ter pa­tient dies

The FDA has paused Mer­sana Ther­a­peu­tics’ Phase I clin­i­cal tri­al for a can­cer treat­ment af­ter a pa­tient died, the biotech said Mon­day morn­ing.

The death was deemed to be re­lat­ed to its drug, the Cam­bridge, MA-based biotech said.

The pa­tient who died was the sec­ond to be dosed in Mer­sana’s clin­i­cal tri­al for a STING ag­o­nist — a drug tar­get that sci­en­tists be­lieve can boost im­mune re­sponse against tu­mors but has seen a num­ber of chal­lenges over the years, from low ef­fi­ca­cy to nixed pro­grams.

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