Event summary of the 16th World ADC London Summit
Bioconjugate Insights 2026; 1(2)
DOI: 10.18609/bci.2026.009
At the end of February, I had the pleasure of attending the 16th World ADC London Summit. This was a valuable opportunity to hear directly from researchers and industry leaders working at the forefront of ADC development. The meeting highlighted just how rapidly the field continues to evolve, with discussions and presentations spanning discovery, payload design, manufacturing and next-generation targeting strategies.
One session I found particularly engaging was the panel session focused on next-generation ADC design, where the speakers, Allan Jordan (Sygnature Discovery), Joshua Greally (Sygnature Discovery), Bob Lutz (Iksuda Therapeutics), Mohit Trikha (Kivu Bioscience), and Ya-Chi Chen (OBI Pharma), discussed how the field is moving beyond the traditional paradigm of antibody–linker–payload architecture. While ADC approvals continue to increase and the sector is experiencing extraordinary growth, the speakers noted that many molecules still rely on similar payload classes and targeting strategies. This has created a strong push across the community to develop new payloads with differentiated mechanisms of action, alongside improvements in linker chemistry and site-specific conjugation to improve safety and tolerability.
The importance of target biology also emerged as a recurring theme throughout the meeting. Several presentations, such as Sarka Stehlikova’s (SOTIO Biotech) ‘Is Two Better Than One? Investigating Dual Target & Dual Payload ADC Development,’ and Christian Rhollf’s (Oxford BioTherapeutics) ‘Exploring Rationale-Driven Approaches to Deliver ADC Payload & Target Differentiation,’ highlighted the challenge of identifying highly selective tumor targets while minimizing expression in healthy tissues. These discussions reinforced how critical target validation remains for ADC success, particularly as the industry explores more complex formats such as bispecific or multispecific antibodies and dual-payload strategies.
Beyond conventional antibodies, there is increasing interest in expanding the bioconjugation toolbox to include other scaffolds such as peptides, oligonucleotides, and alternative binding formats. It was fascinating to hear from Johnathan Davis (Helix Biopharma) about the potential of approaches such as enzyme-mediated targeting and radioimmunotherapy, which could complement or enhance existing ADC strategies during his session ‘Utilizing Novel Conjugation Chemistries to Enhance ADC properties & Widen Therapeutic Index’.
Several talks also addressed the practical challenges of ADC development, including manufacturing, analytical characterization, and process optimization, such as Lisa McDermott and Mary Ramisetty’s discussion on ‘Enhancing ADC Development Through Integrated Chemistry & Technology,’ and Lena Jonsson’s (Cytiva) presentation on ‘Breaking Down ADC Manufacturing Strategy & Solutions.’ Advances in payload chemistry, linker technologies, and analytical methods are helping to improve stability and impurity profiling, which remain key considerations as ADC pipelines continue to expand.
Finally, it was great to speak with so many experts about Bioconjugate Insights and to gather feedback on our coverage and upcoming editorial topics. Conversations about future areas of interest, including early translational discovery, linker innovation, and regulatory considerations, will be invaluable as we continue to shape the journal’s editorial direction. If you are interested in seeing the topics that we are covering this year, you can find our 2026 Editorial Calendar here.
Overall, the summit reinforced the sense that ADC research is entering an exciting new phase. With expanding modalities, deeper biological understanding, and continued technological innovation, the field is clearly moving toward more sophisticated and effective targeted therapies. I look forward to following these developments and continuing the conversation with the community through Bioconjugate Insights.
