20-Hour Conjugation Bottlenecks – Confronting ADC Development Challenges with CDMOs

ADCs are growing at an impressive rate of 30% annually worldwide, with China's growth standing at 37%. At the same time, there is plenty of room for ADC development. One bottleneck is drug delivery with less than 1% of ADCs entering the tissues. The advent of site-specific conjugation technologies has been a double-edged sword. While it has improved the homogeneity and stability of ADCs, enhancing their pharmacokinetic profiles, it has also introduced new complexities in the manufacturing process. What was once a relatively straightforward 40-minute conjugation can now take up to 20 hours, significantly impacting production timelines and costs. The landscape of accelerating ADC development while controlling costs, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing become more crucial than ever. The challenges facing ADC development are too complex for any single entity to tackle alone. Partnerships between biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and CDMOs will be essential to drive innovation and overcome hurdles.