Preclinical Development of an Anti-CD38 Antibody-Drug Conjugate for Treatment of Hematological Malignancies

CD38 is a validated target for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). Daratumumab (Darzalex®), an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody (mAb), has shown great clinical efficacy and has been approved for multiple myeloma treatment. However, both primary refractoriness and development of resistance to daratumumab therapy have been reported. Based on the therapeutic benefits of this CD38 antibody, we developed a CD38-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), employing a fully human anti-CD38 antibody STI-6129, identified from Sorrento's G-MAB® antibody library, and proprietary linker-toxin technology.