What are Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)? 

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are innovative biopharmaceutical products in which a monoclonal antibody is linked to a small molecule drug with a stable linker. Most of the ADCs developed so far are for treating cancer, but there is enormous potential for using ADCs to treat other diseases. Currently, ten ADCs have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and more than 90 ADCs are under worldwide clinical development.

Chemotherapy, with its poor specificity towards tumor cells/tissues, is sometimes associated with a poor therapeutic response and substantial toxicities to normal healthy tissues. Unlike chemotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates target and kill tumor cells without harming the healthy cells, by integrating the antigen specificity of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with antibody fragments.  For those who need further detail, see Reference 2 below. 

What is ADCT-701?

• Pre-clinical studies have shown that Delta-like non-canonical notch ligand 1 (DLK1) is expressed in multiple neuroendocrine neoplasms such as ACC, Small Cell Lung Cancer (a type of Neuroendocrine Carcinoma), neuroblastoma, pheochromocytoma, and paraganglioma.
• ADCT-701 a humanized antibody directed against DLK1 effectively suppresses tumor growth and improves survival in multiple cancer models which express DLK1.