What are ADCs?
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) represent an exciting new drug modality consisting of several elements, which when combined enables targeting of anti-cancer therapeutics to malignant cells overexpressing particular surface antigens
An antibody directed against an antigen overexpressed on cancer cells enables specific binding of the target antigen.
A highly cytotoxic drug, often referred to as the “payload”, is attached to the antibody. The attachment is achieved by using a so-called linker that covalently attaches the payload to the antibody, facilitating stability when the ADC is in circulation, but importantly also selective release of the cytotoxic payload once the ADC has been internalized by a target cell.
The payload, once released, is designed to attack and kill a cancer cell from the inside. Several payload classes with different MoAs have demonstrated clinical efficacy.
Similarly, different linker and conjugation strategies exist.
By optimally combining the antibody/payload/linker elements, an ADC emerges that may be fine-tuned to address the biology of the target molecule and the cancer indication to be treated.
10+ ADCs are now in clinical use for cancer patients, with hundreds more novel ADC assets currently investigated in clinical studies in both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.