The ‘elegant science’ in achieving the promise of ADCs

In this week’s episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Raquel Izumi, chief operating officer and co-founder of Vincerx Pharma, who is on a mission to improve antibody drug conjugate (or ADC) drug development, aiming to conquer cancer with safe, well-tolerated, and paradigm-shifting therapeutics.

Wanting to do something with her career that was going to help patients, Izumi was driven to pursue drug development as a direct way to impact the amelioration of patient outcomes, choosing to go into industry, rather than continuing onto a post-doctorate and remaining in academia.

From protocols and FDA briefings and early days in medical writings, it is that foundation that provided her with a bird’s eye of view of how to design studies across indications that has served her well in running clinical trials. With understanding of the scientific, strategy, and operational aspects of clinical trials, Izumi’s evolution into ADC drug development is now focussing on addressing the side effects and toxicities of these treatments.

Aiming to achieve the promise of ADCs, taking them only to the cancer cells, Izumi discusses the ‘elegant science’ involved in the development of Vincerx’ bioconjugation platform and the importance of the chemical linker in the ADC - in particular the company’s specific linker and the inhibition of kinesin spindle protein (KSP).

With this promising technology coming to fruition, the haematological oncological landscape has certainly come a long way. Take a listen and be similarly inspired.

You can listen to episode 97a of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series - in iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Podbean.