Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are straightforward as a concept. When a cytotoxic small-molecule drug is attached to an antibody raised against a specific molecular receptor, it theoretically creates a highly targeted and effective therapy. And the ability to target cells precisely has obvious applications for indications such as cancer. However, in practice, developing and manufacturing ADCs has proven difficult, said Janice M. Reichert, chief operating officer of The Antibody Society, which is an international nonprofit organization that supports antibody-related research and…

Antibody-conjugate technologies have been pushed out of the limelight somewhat in recent years by mRNA/oligonucleotides and cell/gene therapies. Yet while many people were talking about the “next big thing” — and remember, the next big thing in cancer treatment not so long ago was antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) therapy — this now-maturing segment of the biopharmaceutical industry has begun proving its worth. As of November 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved 14 different ADCs for cancer indications.…

The pharmaceutical industry has come a long way since 1907, when Paul Ehrlich coined the term “magic bullet” for treatments that could target disease-causing cells while sparing normal, healthy cells (1, 2). Researchers began investigating targeted cytotoxins as therapeutic bioconjugates in the late 1980s. Groups led by Ellen Vitetta at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (3), Ira Pastan at the US National Institutes of Health (4), and John R. Murphy at Boston University (5) fused truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin…