Bioconjugate Insights 2027 Editorial Calendar
Eight topics across the bioconjugate field, mapped to their scheduled issues. Click a topic name to jump to its scope and discussion topics below.
Antibody discovery & engineering
Scheduled: April, August, November · 3 issues
Covers
Antibody discovery Antibody engineering Scaffold engineering Target selection Novel targets Target validation Epitope selection Affinity/avidity tuning Bispecific antibody discovery AI-guided discovery First-in-class antigens
Discussion topics
- The state of antibody engineering for conjugation and how discovery is being rethought for the ADC era rather than borrowed from naked-mAb programs
- How far can target diversification realistically go before validation and safety data become limiting?
- The role of AI across the discovery workflow: hype versus demonstrated impact
- Designing the antibody and the conjugate together and breaking the silo between discovery and downstream development
- What ‘developability’ means at the antibody stage, and how early choices cascade into CMC and clinic
- Platform thinking: can one optimized scaffold serve multiple targets and payloads?
- In-house discovery versus licensing engineered scaffolds, and what it means for differentiation
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Linkers & payloads
Scheduled: February, April, June, August, November · 5 issues
Covers
Linker technology Payload selection DAR and DAR optimization Efficacy vs toxicity Cleavable/non-cleavable linkers Site-specific conjugation Novel payloads Protein degraders RNA-splicing modulators Immunomodulatory payloads Bystander effect Conjugation chemistry
Discussion topics
- The shifting balance of innovation: is the next leap more likely from linker chemistry or payload diversity?
- Mapping where linker and payload decisions are genuinely coupled versus independent
- Beyond the cytotoxic paradigm: what immune-modulating and degrader payloads mean for the whole conjugate
- Designing the linker–payload unit for a target product profile rather than optimizing components in isolation
- Lessons from clinical linker-payload failures and the design rules they have taught the field
- The CMC and developability burden of increasingly complex linker–payload chemistries
- The competitive and IP landscape around proprietary linker and payload technologies
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Next-generation formats & emerging modalities
Scheduled: April, July, October, December · 4 issues
Covers
Bispecific ADCs Multispecific ADCs Dual-payloads Degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) Antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs) Peptide-drug conjugate Radioconjugate siRNA conjugates
Discussion topics
- Are multispecific and dual-payload formats solving real clinical problems, or adding complexity ahead of the evidence?
- The expanding definition of “bioconjugate” — where ADCs end and a broader modality class begins
- What the field can and cannot carry over from ADCs as it moves into oligonucleotide, peptide and radioconjugates
- The strategic case for diversifying beyond oncology: clinical opportunity versus development risk
- How novel formats reshape expectations for manufacturing, analytics and regulatory pathways
- Which next-generation formats are most likely to reach regulatory approval and move into the clinic
- Partnership and platform models driving emerging-modality programs
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Manufacturing, scale-up & supply chain
Scheduled: March, May, July, September, November · 5 issues
Covers
ADC manufacturing Bioconjugation manufacturing HPAPI (high-potency API) Tech transfer Scale-up/scale-out Manufacturing bottlenecks GMP Conjugation process development Supply chain
Discussion topics
- The manufacturing readiness gap: why promising conjugates stall between discovery and scalable production
- In-house vs CDMO, and how the outsourcing landscape is shaping manufacturing decisions
- Designing manufacturing for a pipeline of increasingly diverse and complex formats
- Cost of goods as a strategic lever for ADC commercial viability and patient access
- What ADC scale-up has taught the industry, and how transferable those lessons are to new modalities
- Building flexibility through platform facilities and processes for a multi-modality future
- Geopolitics and supply-chain strategy to de-risk access to payloads, linkers and antibodies
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Analytics & characterization
Scheduled: February, May, August, October · 4 issues
Covers
ADC characterization Analytical development DAR analysis LC-MS and mass spectrometry Aggregation Potency assays CQAs Free-payload quantification Method validation Companion diagnostics Biomarker assays
Discussion topics
- Analytics as the bottleneck: is characterization keeping pace with conjugate complexity?
- Standardization and harmonization of methods across the field and with regulators
- Connecting analytical attributes to clinical meaning: which CQAs actually predict outcomes?
- The shift from release testing toward deeper structural and functional understanding
- Analytical strategies for a multi-modality pipeline beyond traditional ADCs
- Where automation, high-throughput and informatics genuinely pay off
- Data and AI in conjugate characterization
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Preclinical & translational
Scheduled: March, July, October · 3 issues
Covers
Translational research PK/PD modelling In vitro to in vivo translation Biodistribution IND-enabling Patient selection Resistance mechanisms Efficacy vs toxicity Therapeutic window Bystander activity
Discussion topics
- Why ADCs fail in translation, and what would meaningfully improve preclinical predictivity
- Designing the preclinical package backward from the clinical and regulatory question
- The model problem: do current in vitro and animal systems truly reflect human conjugate behavior?
- Integrating PK/PD, biodistribution and safety into a single translational story
- How much preclinical evidence is “enough” to justify first-in-human, and who decides
- Translational lessons being read across from the approved-ADC clinical experience
- Biomarker-led translation to build patient-selection strategy from the start
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Regulatory & safety
Scheduled: March, June, September · 3 issues
Covers
Safety and toxicity Therapeutic index ILD/pneumonitis Ocular toxicity Off-target toxicity Regulatory strategy IND CMC Orphan designation Precedent approvals Multi-region submissions
Discussion topics
- The therapeutic-index problem as the central constraint on ADC progress, and how the field is responding
- How regulatory frameworks are adapting (or failing to adapt) to increasingly complex conjugate formats
- Designing for safety from day one versus managing toxicity in the clinic
- Understanding and getting ahead of recurring class toxicities such as ILD, ocular and peripheral neurotoxicity
- Class effects versus molecule-specific risks and what does or doesn’t generalize across payloads
- Building a joined-up regulatory and safety strategy from first-in-human through commercial lifecycle
- Global divergence and convergence: navigating IND, comparability and multi-region submissions
- Can better preclinical and biomarker tools move safety understanding upstream of the clinic?
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Clinical
Scheduled: February, June, September, December · 4 issues
Covers
Clinical readouts Clinical approvals First-line/perioperative ADCs Combination/checkpoint combination Bispecific ADCs Patient selection Pipeline review
Discussion topics
- A periodic state-of-the-field read on ADC approvals, readouts and pipeline momentum
- Why do ADCs succeed or fail in the clinic, and what separates the winners?
- Sequencing and combinations: positioning ADCs within evolving standards of care
- Designing smarter ADC trials through endpoints, patient selection and adaptive approaches
- Translating clinical experience back into molecular and program design
- Real-world evidence and post-approval learning across the ADC class
- The clinical case for moving conjugates beyond oncology
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