Sometimes the journey isn’t half the battle, it’s the whole battle. And if that’s the case, you better take a good hard look at your wingman.
Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) have this road trip down. They focus on the journey, aiming to deliver a treatment only to the cells that need it. In oncology, an ADC aims to deliver chemotherapy to destroy cancer cells while not damaging nearby healthy tissue. AbbVie researchers are now looking at using this same ADC technology to help patients with immune-mediated diseases by investigating delivering targeted immunology treatments, specifically steroids.
“We’re not trying to kill these target cells in immunology, we are trying to get them to change their minds and not be so angry,” says Lisa Olson, Ph.D., vice president, immunology, AbbVie. “It’s a big question - could we get an antibody to deliver the steroid inside an immune cell and after delivery, would the steroid work appropriately inside a cell?"
A dedicated team of about 10 AbbVie scientists grew to 50 scientists in order to figure it all out.