Drug developers share strategies for next-generation antibody-based cancer therapeutics

Cancer immunotherapy has produced two transformative drug classes: bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. Trends in Antibody Drug Discovery for Cancer Therapy brings together drug developers from pharmaceutical companies of all sizes to share their experiences developing these therapeutics. Christian Klein, whose Roche team contributed to twenty-four clinical stage bispecific antibodies, offers key insights into successful strategies for anticancer drug development.

This book begins with a review of recent therapy developments in biological cancer treatment before examining bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates through detailed case studies of recently approved therapeutics. An international team of contributors then examine how bispecific antibodies target both cancer and immune cells, and how antibody-drug conjugates deliver cytotoxic payloads directly to tumors. The final section evaluates emerging approaches including antibody-based PROTACs and cytokine mimetics.

Readers will also benefit from:

• Case studies documenting the development pathways of recently approved bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates from preclinical research through to clinical application
• Analysis of targeted protein degradation strategies including antibody-based PROTACs and their potential for harnessing this mechanism in cancer therapy
• Expert evaluation of cytokine mimetics and other forward-looking approaches contributing to the next generation of antibody-based cancer treatments
• Insights from drug developers at both small and large pharmaceutical companies sharing past successes and future development plans

Designed for medicinal chemists, pharmaceutical chemists, and oncologists working in drug discovery and development, this volume addresses the unmet medical need for more efficient cancer therapeutics. Industry professionals will gain actionable insights for developing antibody-based drugs in a field that leads global pharmaceutical markets.

Christian Klein is Department Head for Cancer Immunotherapy Discovery, Head Oncology Programs, and Site Head at the Roche Innovation Center Zurich. During his twenty-one-year Roche tenure, he made major contributions to the preclinical development and approval of obinutuzumab, discovery of faricimab, and preclinical R&D on twenty-four clinical stage bispecific antibodies. He co-authored over two hundred publications and received the Drug Discovery of the Year 2015 award from the British Pharmacological Society.