Starpharma has applied its DEP® technology to the innovative and cutting-edge area of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs). ADCs utilise the targeting and specificity of antibodies as drug carriers to transport toxic drugs to tumour sites. ADCs consist of antibodies, linkers, and toxic payloads. The active payloads in ADCs are mainly microtubule inhibitors and DNA-damaging agents, which are linked to the antibodies via chemical conjugation.

Key advantages of Starpharma’s DEP® platform for ADCs

• Ability to achieve higher DAR and higher drug loading than conventional ADCs.
• Greater flexibility in terms of linker strategies to precisely control drug release profiles.
• Capacity to widen the therapeutic index of toxic drug payloads.
• Ability to penetrate deeply into tumours, bind strongly to target cells and internalise for enhanced performance.
• Enhanced efficacy leading to enhanced survival.
• Flexibility in terms of compatible targeting agents, including biologics (whole antibodies and fragments), small molecules, peptides and other approaches.