Current approaches for the purification of antibody–drug conjugates

• Published in: Journal of separation science Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 27 - 37
• Main Author: Matsuda, Yutaka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antibodies - chemistry; Antibody–drug conjugates; Chromatography - methods; Chromatography - trends; Conjugates; Conjugation; drug antibody ratio; Filtration - methods; Filtration - trends; Immunoconjugates - chemistry; Immunoconjugates - isolation & purification; Manufacturing; Molecular structure; Pharmaceutical Preparations - chemistry; Production methods; Purification; Quality management; site‐specific conjugation; drug antibody ratio; site-specific conjugation; purification; Antibody-drug conjugates
• ISSN: 1615-9306; 1615-9314
• DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202100575

In the past two decades, antibody–drug conjugates have gained increasing attention because they expand the therapeutic index when compared with that of traditional chemotherapies. Antibody–drug conjugates are highly complex structures consisting of antibodies covalently conjugated with small‐molecule cytotoxic drugs. The complex structure of antibody–drug conjugates makes chemistry, manufacturing, and control difficult. In contrast to antibody production, distinct purification methods following conjugation of antibodies with drug‐linkers are required for the manufacturing. For process development of antibody drug conjugates, the drug‐to‐antibody ratio, free drug‐linkers, and aggregates are critical quality attributes that must be strictly controlled and removed by appropriate purification techniques. In this review, features of various purification methods used to purify antibody drug conjugates are described and evaluated. The future landscape of the antibody‐conjugates field is also discussed briefly.