Beyond Antibody-Drug Conjugates: Peptide-Drug Conjugates and Other Novel Modalities | Research

The takeaway

PDCs, small molecule-drug conjugates, and other novel conjugate modalities are emerging as alternatives to ADCs, offering advantages in cost, penetration, and manufacturing for targeted cancer therapy.

Beyond antibodies
Peptide-drug conjugates offer better tumor penetration, simpler manufacturing, and lower cost than antibody-drug conjugates — democratizing targeted cancer therapy

What the researchers found

PDCs, SMDCs, and novel conjugate modalities are emerging as ADC alternatives with advantages in tumor penetration, manufacturing simplicity, cost, and immunogenicity for targeted cancer therapy.

Why it matters

ADCs have transformed cancer therapy but are expensive and imperfect. Alternative conjugates could democratize targeted therapy.

How the study worked

Review of conjugate drug modalities beyond ADCs, covering PDCs, SMDCs, and novel platforms.

What this study cannot tell us

Many alternative conjugates are still preclinical. Head-to-head comparisons with ADCs limited.

How to read the evidence

Review of evolving conjugate therapy landscape.

When this study was published

Published in 2025.

The bigger picture

The conjugate therapy revolution is expanding beyond antibodies to include peptides and small molecules, potentially making targeted cancer therapy more accessible.

Questions still open

Will PDCs achieve ADC-level clinical success?
Which conjugate modality is optimal for each tumor type?
Can manufacturing costs of PDCs compete with generic small molecules?

Common questions

What are peptide-drug conjugates?

Like antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) but using smaller peptides instead of large antibodies to deliver chemotherapy to cancer cells. They penetrate tumors better and are cheaper to make.

Are they better than ADCs?

In some ways: better tumor penetration, simpler manufacturing, lower cost. But ADCs have more clinical validation. Both modalities will likely coexist for different cancer types.

Read the original research

Challenges and opportunities beyond antibody-drug conjugates: Toward a new era of programmable therapeutic proteins.

Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 794, 153018

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Kurtova, Anastasia I; Iureva, Anna M; Esetov, Nikolay S; Sokol, Daniil V; Fedotova, Polina A; Shipunova, Victoria O. (2026). Challenges and opportunities beyond antibody-drug conjugates: Toward a new era of programmable therapeutic proteins.. Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 794, 153018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.153018