Wedbush bullish on Mersana Therapeutics, upgrades to Outperform

As previously reported, Wedbush upgraded Mersana Therapeutics to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $7, up from $2. The firm believes that the initial Phase 1 dose escalation for XMT-1660, mid-year is likely to provide a significant near-term catalyst for shares, as Wedbush thinks it will demonstrate a differentiated profile for an anti-B7-H4 ADC, with read-through to the company’s Dolasynthen platform. Following this reasoning, the firm also thinks that the restarting of its Phase 1 trial of XMT-2056, an Immunosynthen novel HER2 targeted ADC, gives the company additional value. Wedbush notes the ADC space remains an attractive area for M&A.