Discovery research and translation science of trastuzumab deruxtecan, from non-clinical study to clinical trial

An antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) is a biological drug that binds a drug to a monoclonal antibody via an appropriate linker. ADCs use antibodies to selectively deliver a potent cytotoxic agent to tumor cells, thus drastically improving the therapeutic index of chemotherapeutic agents. We discovered trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) via study of ADC linker-payload technology that combined a DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor with an anti- human epidermal...