Department of Chemistry Seminar – Dr. Rajappa Vaidyanathan

About the event

Speaker: Dr. Rajappa Vaidyanathan

Host: Rishi Sharma

Title: Development of Robust, Sustainable Chemical Processes for the Rapid Delivery of Drug-Linkers

Abstract: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of cancer drugs that combine the targeting ability of monoclonal antibodies with the cell-killing power of cytotoxic drugs. A typical ADC consists of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) covalently attached to a Drug-Linker molecule (i.e. cytotoxic drug attached to a chemical linker).  ADCs are designed to selectively deliver potent chemotherapy to cancer cells, minimizing damage to healthy tissues.

This talk will describe the development of innovative chemical processes that can reliably produce large quantities of Drug-Linkers to support clinical trials as well as commercial supply.  Specifically, techniques used to accelerate process development (and consequently, availability of drug to patients) will be described, and illustrated with several examples.