Clever ADC Developers Demonstrate Resilience

All of our lives have been affected by covid; all of our lives will be affected by covid. Whilst this sounds pessimistic it is far from it. Collaborative efforts both intra and inter industry have led to tremendous acceleration of vaccine developments in response to the pandemic, and further visibility on global supply chains and how interconnected we are as a global community has become extremely apparent.

Our moniker of Homo Sapiens as `wise man` suggests we have the benefit of experience, but you could argue we are more Homo Callidus as `clever man` or even Humanus Callidus as `clever human` – one that finds innovative solutions to complex problems. Perhaps (wrongly) attributed to Albert Einstein, the quote of “a clever person solves a problem; a wise person avoids it” seems to apply never more aptly in this covid world. We have not avoided a pandemic, but we are solving the pandemic problem in innovative ways.

I have recently been spending time with family in South Africa for the first time in many years, but have found myself quarantining upon my return to the UK. This hotel quarantine has made me reflect on not just how the many incredible scientists are providing global solutions to covid, but also on how resilient we as Humanus Callidus can be. Stuck in a box of 20 foot square space can be quite constraining, but I was lucky enough to be able to look out of my hotel room window and saw a beautiful sunrise – something I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be exposed to if I hadn’t been quarantining with my young child who woke early nursing a newly visible tooth.

ADCs are never far away in my mind, and sometimes I feel it takes a special kind of person to be a drug developer in the ADC space, something I have written about previously. You have to be slightly crazy to keep plugging away in the face of adversity for this most challenging of modalities. Resilience and reliance on your passion for developing a new linker, a new payload or a new ADC technology platform can continue to drive you through negative data, poor results and discouraging circumstances. Even the most difficult of times can expose you to situations that you have not envisaged, and it is up to you to look for the sunrise in the gloomy skies and restrictions you find yourself in. We all need to give hope to someone who is not sure about the results of their efforts, and the sentiment that you should remember that the darkest hour of all is the hour before day sits perfectly.

The decade of ADCs is upon us and next-generation approaches will continue to lead to improvements in patient care. We just need to be clever, resilient and believe in what we are trying to achieve.