Cancer Throughlines: 25 Years after First Approval, ADCs Continue to Pick up Steam

Twenty-five years ago, the FDA gave the first approval to an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), the CD33-targeting gemtuzumab ozogamicin for acute myeloid leukemia. As the drug faced setbacks and redemption-it was withdrawn in 2010 following poor phase III trial results but reapproved in 2017 at a lower dose-a surge of pharmaceutical interest in ADCs has yielded newly approved agents and new strategies for developing them.