Monoclonal antibodies
Lab-made immune proteins that lock onto one target, either blocking it or flagging the cell for destruction.
Rituximab (1997) and trastuzumab (1998) founded the class. Mechanisms: signal blockade (trastuzumab, cetuximab), ligand sequestration (bevacizumab), effector recruitment (ADCC, CDC), and checkpoint blockade. The chassis for ADCs, bispecifics, and radio-conjugates. Subcutaneous and biosimilar versions expand access.
How it works
A humanised or fully human IgG binds a surface or soluble antigen; Fc engineering tunes effector function and half-life.
- High specificity
- Long half-life
- Platform for conjugates
- IV administration
- Cannot reach intracellular targets
Bemarituzumab is an antibody against FGFR2b, a growth receptor overproduced in about a third of stomach cancers. It improved survival early in its phase 3 trial, but the gain faded with longer follow-up.
The first drug to starve tumours of blood vessels. Approved in 2004 for bowel cancer, it remains a standard partner for chemotherapy in many cancers and is the add-on that makes late-line pills work better.
A blood-vessel-blocking antibody that shrinks glioblastoma on scans and reduces swelling, but has never been shown to help patients live longer.
An antibody that blocks the EGFR growth receptor. It works in bowel cancers with a normal RAS gene, especially left-sided ones, and is a key partner in the BRAF combination.
The CD38 antibody that turned triplets into quadruplets: adding it to standard induction roughly halves the risk of myeloma progressing.
The antibody that raised cure rates in high-risk childhood neuroblastoma by about 20 points when given after transplant with immune boosters and retinoid.
An immune-stimulating antibody for myeloma that works only in combination, adding benefit to lenalidomide or pomalidomide.
Isatuximab is Sanofi's CD38 antibody, approved in frontline transplant-ineligible myeloma (IMROZ) and, from July 2026, as an under-the-skin injection.
The first 'don't eat me' signal blocker. Gilead paid $4.9B for it; it was stopped in 2024 after trials showed more deaths, not fewer.
A trastuzumab look-alike with an engineered tail that binds immune cells more tightly; approved in 2020 but rarely used after ADCs arrived.
Mogamulizumab is an antibody that clears cancerous T cells from the blood in mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome, the leukaemic form of skin lymphoma.
Naxitamab is a humanised anti-GD2 antibody from Memorial Sloan Kettering, given as an outpatient with GM-CSF for relapsed neuroblastoma in bone or marrow.
Obinutuzumab is a supercharged CD20 antibody that, paired with venetoclax for one year, gives many CLL patients years off all treatment.
Panitumumab is a fully human EGFR antibody, the preferred first-line partner for chemotherapy in left-sided, RAS-normal bowel cancer after the PARADIGM trial.
A second HER2 antibody that binds a different spot from trastuzumab, blocking HER2 from pairing with HER3; together they extended survival by 16 months in CLEOPATRA.
An antibody that blocks the VEGF receptor, approved in liver cancer only for patients with a high AFP blood level, the first biomarker-selected HCC drug.
Rituximab was the first antibody ever approved for cancer (1997). It made chemoimmunotherapy the CLL standard for a decade, and biosimilars keep it cheap and everywhere.
A CD19 antibody given with lenalidomide for lymphoma patients who cannot have a transplant; in 2026 it showed the first frontline gain over R-CHOP in high-risk disease.
Tagraxofusp is a fusion of the growth factor IL-3 with a bacterial toxin that homes to CD123 on a rare, aggressive blood cancer.
The first targeted antibody for a solid tumour (1998), which turned HER2-positive breast cancer from the worst subtype into one of the most treatable.
Near-identical copies of Herceptin, approved since 2017, that cut the price of HER2 treatment and widened access worldwide.
Zolbetuximab is the first drug against Claudin 18.2, a protein exposed on stomach cancer cells. Added to chemotherapy it extends survival by two to three months; nausea is the price.
Patients with newly diagnosed metastatic colorectal cancer whose tumour carries a BRAF V600E mutation, which is about 8-12% of cases, should now be offered encorafenib and cetuximab together with FOLFOX from the start rather than after chemotherapy fails; median survival has roughly doubled to about two and a half years. BRAF testing at diagnosis is therefore essential, alongside RAS and mismatch repair testing. The regimen is more toxic than chemotherapy alone.
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer carrying a KRAS G12C mutation (about 3-4% of cases) who have exhausted standard chemotherapy now have a targeted option that works far better than trifluridine-tipiracil or regorafenib. The higher sotorasib dose is clearly superior, and the EGFR antibody is essential because KRAS inhibition alone barely works in bowel cancer. Responses are still modest and short-lived compared with EGFR or ALK inhibitors in lung cancer.
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced stomach cancer should now have Claudin 18.2 tested alongside HER2, PD-L1 and mismatch repair, because roughly a third will be eligible for zolbetuximab, which adds about three months of median survival. The main practical problem is nausea and vomiting during infusions, which needs aggressive prophylaxis. How to sequence or combine it with immunotherapy in PD-L1-positive tumours is unresolved.
Patients with advanced liver cancer and good liver function should be offered atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (or durvalumab plus tremelimumab) rather than sorafenib as first treatment; median survival is now around 19 months and about a quarter of patients respond. Endoscopy to treat varices before starting bevacizumab is essential because of bleeding risk. Patients with poorer liver function (Child-Pugh B) or autoimmune disease or transplants were not studied.
Patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer that has recurred or spread should be treated first with pembrolizumab: alone if their tumour is strongly PD-L1 positive and they can wait for a slower response, or with chemotherapy if the tumour is bulky or PD-L1 low. Cetuximab-based chemotherapy is no longer the default. Long-term follow-up shows a small but real group of patients alive at four to five years, which was almost unheard of before.
Latest papers
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Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TargetCD20
Shares Ronald Levy, University Hospital Southampton / Centre for Cancer Immunology, Hairy cell leukaemia, Obinutuzumab.
- CompanyRoche / Genentech
Shares Bevacizumab (glioblastoma use), IMbrave150: atezolizumab plus bevacizumab replaces sorafenib as first treatment for advanced liver cancer, Pertuzumab, Hairy cell leukaemia.
- TargetHER2
Shares Margetuximab, Trastuzumab biosimilars, Barbara Bradfield, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
- TargetEGFR
Shares EXTREME, Panitumumab, Weizmann Institute of Science, UZ Leuven / Leuven Cancer Institute.
- InstitutionHOVON
Shares German Lymphoma Alliance, International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group, Nordic Lymphoma Group, Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
- TechnologyBispecific antibodies
Shares Antibody manufacturing (CHO bioprocessing), Fc engineering / effector function, LYSA – The Lymphoma Study Association, Antibody.
- TargetGD2 (disialoganglioside)
Shares Naxitamab, Alice L. Yu, Dinutuximab (ch14.18) / dinutuximab beta, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
- CompanyAmgen
Shares Bemarituzumab, Panitumumab, CodeBreaK 300: sotorasib plus panitumumab in chemotherapy-refractory KRAS G12C colorectal cancer, Multiple myeloma.