Antibody-Drug Conjugates Attract Hefty Funding To ADC Therapeutics

24 Oct 2017

• By John Davis

Swiss oncology company ADC Therapeutics, which has just added another $200m to its coffers, is developing a new class of antibody-drug conjugates that may be less visible to DNA repair mechanisms and therefore less susceptible to the development of resistance than other anticancers.

Chris Martin of ADC Therapeutics — Chris Martin, CEO of ADC Therapeutics • Source: ADC Therapeutics

Having a realistic view of the amount of funding required to take a potential medicine through clinical trials could be thought a prime requirement of a biotech company, one being exhibited by Lausanne, Switzerland-based biotech ADC Therapeutics SARL, that has just raised $200m to take two of its novel antibody-drug conjugate anticancers into and through registrational clinical trials.

The financing is one of the largest private fundraisings for a European biotech over the past couple of years, and...