SGEN IMGN GMAB etc. Since I'm deeply bored with ENTA I was thinking about whether companies developing ADCs a good investment bet. My biotech portfolio has been doing a hell of a lot better than ever before by really thinking through things that I *do not* like rather than the latest sweetest technology or therapeutic area. I'm going to post all the things I hate here at some point just for fun, there's no point in Twittering it. I think I already posted about why I hate gene therapy (as an investment, not as a technology).
ADCs are an undeniably effective strategy in oncology. But the ADC space is *exceedingly* crowded. It’s crowded because ADCs are easy compared to other technologies: identify a selectively expressed biomarker, conjugate a cytotoxin or radioligand to it, and see what happens. The development pathway is not incredibly challenging vs other types of therapy.
For this reason, there is a plethora of ADCs and hundreds more in pipelines. Again, I think ADCs are awesome clinically, but investable? Not really. Not unless someone identifies a really novel target. CD19, CD20, BCMA, etc are played out in hematology. There are many other very crowded ADC targets. Also regardless of target I don't think you are ever going to find one that is absolutely unique to tumors so you are always going to get significant off-target toxicities.
My point is that if you are going to invest in ADCs, do some research on the viability of the target. Is it unique? Is it clearly expressed at a higher level on tumors than in normal tissue? If it is expressed elsewhere, where, what level, and what is the impact of targeting that tissue as a bystander?
Don’t fall for companies that claim their conjugate is unique/different. Yeah it might make a difference but it isn’t nearly as important as the target.
