Antibody-Drug Conjugates
An antibody that finds the tumour, carrying a tiny dose of very strong chemotherapy that is released only inside it.
ADCs combine a targeting antibody, a linker, and a cytotoxic payload. Third-generation ADCs (T-DXd, sacituzumab govitecan, datopotamab deruxtecan) with topoisomerase-I payloads and bystander killing have reshaped breast, lung, and urothelial cancer. Next generation: bispecific ADCs, dual payloads, degrader and immune-stimulating payloads, masked ADCs, and radio-conjugates.
Joining a highly toxic payload to an antibody safely and at scale. Few contractors can do it, which shapes who can develop ADCs.
An ADC payload neutraliser is an antibody given alongside an ADC that mops up the poison once it leaks into the bloodstream, so the ADC can hit the tumour with fewer side effects.
Antibody manufacturing means growing antibody drugs like pembrolizumab or trastuzumab in vats of engineered hamster cells, then purifying them. It is the industrial base for most modern cancer drugs.
An antibody-drug conjugate is a guided missile: an antibody homes to the tumour cell, is swallowed, and releases a chemotherapy so potent it could never be given on its own.
An ADC that carries a gene-silencing strand instead of a chemotherapy, so it can switch a protein off rather than poison the cell.
A bispecific ADC is an ADC whose antibody grabs two different proteins on the cancer cell, so it sticks better to tumour and less to healthy tissue.
An ADC that delivers a protein-destroying molecule instead of chemotherapy, hitting targets inside the cell that were previously unreachable.
A dual-payload ADC is an ADC carrying two different poisons at once, so the tumour cannot escape by becoming resistant to one.
HER2 PET is a PET scan using radiolabelled trastuzumab or smaller HER2 binders to map HER2 across all metastases at once.
An immune-stimulating antibody conjugate (ISAC) is an ADC whose payload wakes up the immune system inside the tumour rather than poisoning the cell.
An ADC wearing a mask that only comes off inside the tumour, so it ignores the same protein on healthy tissue.
Making the microgram-potent toxins inside ADCs, in facilities built so a speck of dust cannot harm a worker.
Like an ADC but with a small targeting peptide instead of an antibody, so it penetrates tumours faster and is cheaper to make.
Attaching a radioactive atom to an antibody, so an ADC's targeting is used to deliver radiation instead of chemotherapy.
Site-specific conjugation and linker chemistry decide exactly where and how many payloads attach to the antibody, which determines how safe and effective an ADC is.
Sterile fill-finish is putting the finished drug into vials under sterile conditions. It is a frequent cause of shortages when capacity is tight.
Topoisomerase-I inhibitors work by jamming the enzyme that untangles DNA during copying. They are weak as free drugs in many cancers, but devastating when delivered by an ADC.
An experimental PET scan that shows whether a tumour carries the TROP2 protein, so doctors could pick the right ADC before giving it.