M. Jamil: ADCs Are Still Learning How Not to Blow Up the Wrong Building

M. Jamil, Head – Early Commercial Team at Merck, shared on LinkedIn about a recent paper by Matthew Vogel et al. published on JCO:

“Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are cancer-fighting ‘smart bombs,’ but instead of Hollywood simplicity, they’re more like a fussy IKEA project where every screw (antibody, linker, payload, stability) has to fit just so or the whole thing wobbles. They have gone from niche prototypes to 17 approved therapies, showing real power – but also real headaches: off-target toxicity, unpredictable drug release, tricky manufacturing, and the eternal ‘potency vs. safety’ tug-of-war.

The field is booming, with researchers fine-tuning designs to make these molecular delivery vans less accident-prone and more consistently effective. In short: ADCs are dazzlingly promising, maddeningly complex, and still learning how not to blow up the wrong building.”

Title: Beyond the Guided Missile Paradigm: Embracing the Complexity of Antibody-Drug Conjugates

Authors: Matthew Vogel, Raffaele Colombo and Paolo Tarantino

Read the full article.

More about ADCs.