Antibody-Drug Conjugates: An Emerging Modality for the Treatment of Cancer

Conventional anticancer therapeutics often suffer from lack of specificity, resulting in toxicities to normal healthy tissues and poor therapeutic index. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) constitute a therapeutic modality in which a cytotoxic agent is chemically linked to an antibody (Ab) that recognizes a tumor-associated antigen. The basic strategy underlying ADC technology is to combine the target selectivity of mAbs with the potency of cytotoxic agents, such as certain natural products and synthetic molecules, with the goal of generating therapeutic drugs that are highly efficacious but also safe. The ADC platform currently includes a growing repertoire of cytotoxic payloads, linker technologies and conjugation methods.

Two ADCs have recently received FDA approval and more than 30 are in clinical development. This symposium aims to highlight advances in ADC research, clinical development and regulatory perspectives. Topics will range from early phase research focused on development of novel linker-payload and conjugation chemistries to clinical concepts and development of biomarkers and patient selection strategies.