OnCo
ideasIdea

Platform designation for ADC linker-payloads so manufacturing data carry across

Many antibody-drug conjugates share the same linker and payload chemistry. Regulators should let companies reuse the manufacturing evidence rather than repeating it for every new antibody.

FDA's platform technology designation programme (draft guidance 2024, from the 2022 omnibus legislation) allows a well-characterised technology used in an approved product to be referenced in later applications. ADC linker-payloads (deruxtecan, vedotin, site-specific enzymatic conjugation from Synaffix or Araris) are natural platforms: the conjugation process, payload synthesis, impurity profile and much of the non-clinical toxicology are antibody-independent. The proposal is for FDA, EMA and PMDA to jointly designate ADC linker-payload platforms and publish what data may be referenced, so a new ADC on a designated platform files only antibody-specific CMC and toxicology.

Hypothesis
ADCs filed on a designated platform reach IND with at least 40% less non-clinical and CMC work and show no higher rate of clinical holds or manufacturing-related deficiencies than conventionally filed ADCs.
Rationale
Deruxtecan has now been carried by many antibodies with a consistent payload toxicity profile; repeating payload characterisation per product adds cost without information. Platform reuse is how vaccines and gene therapy vectors are increasingly regulated.
What would test it
Designate two or three linker-payload platforms in a pilot, track IND timelines and deficiency letters for products using them against matched ADCs, and publish the outcomes.
Maturity
early clinical
Who has to act
regulator
Cost to try
Small (under $1M)
Years to first evidence
3
Bottlenecks it attacks

Connected

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