Antibody-drug conjugates nonclinical support: from early to late nonclinical bioanalysis using ligand-binding assays.

The objective of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) bioanalysis at different stages of drug development may vary and so are the associated bioanalytical challenges. While at early drug discovery stage involving candidate selection, optimization and preliminary nonclinical assessments, the goal of ADC bioanalysis is to provide PK, toxicity and efficacy data that assists in the design and selection of potential drug candidates, the late nonclinical and clinical drug development stage typically involves regulated ADC bioanalysis that delivers TK data to define and understand pharmacological and toxicological properties of the lead ADC candidate. Bioanalytical strategies and considerations involved in developing successful ligand binding assays for ADC characterization from early discovery to late nonclinical stages of drug development are presented here.