Panel Discussion: Integrating Advanced Linker Design, Conjugation Precision & Translational Strategy to Overcome Off-Target Toxicity in Next-Generation ADCs

As linker innovation rapidly evolves from incremental chemistry optimization to multifunctional control over stability, selectivity, and biodistribution, the field faces a defining challenge: how do we systematically reduce systemic toxicity while preserving potency in increasingly complex tumor environments?

Join leading experts as they exolore how to harmonize conjugation precision, linker stability, and tumor-selective release mechanisms into integrated design frameworks by:

  • Reconciling stability with selective activation, examining how charge-shielding, hydrophobicity-masking, and hydrophilic click chemistries can be strategically combined with orthogonal linker architectures to prevent premature systemic cleavage while preserving efficient tumor-site payload release
  • Redefining conjugation precision as a determinant of safety, debating the extent to which homogeneous, site-specific enzymatic attachment and controlled DAR distribution can improve pharmacokinetics, reduce off-target toxicity, and enhance the predictability of biomarker-driven efficacy
  • Designing linkers to modulate biomarker dependence and bystander effects, evaluating whether next-generation architectures should enforce strict antigen-density reliance or enable controlled payload diffusion to address tumor heterogeneity while maintaining an optimized therapeutic window