Media Focus | Tonacea: ADC Accelerates Iteration, RDC Gains Momentum – Trends at ASCO 2026 and Nanolattix‘s Strategic Logic

The 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting has opened in Chicago. “The Big Bang of conjugated drugs” is a hot topic repeatedly discussed at recent industry forums. As the world’s largest and most academically influential annual conference in oncology, the abstract landscape at ASCO has always been an important barometer of industry direction – and this year’s data provide compelling evidence for that judgment: over 370 ADC-related abstracts, with oral presentations rising to 39 from last year, pure-data posters surging from 78 to 119. Bispecific ADCs have entered mainstream clinical development at scale for the first time this year – the EGFR×HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate iza-bren achieved dual positive results in PFS and OS in a Phase III study for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Meanwhile, the pressure of payload homogeneity is pushing differentiation towards target innovation and antibody format diversification. On the RDC front, there are 87 related abstracts; Pluvicto continues to advance in prostate cancer and expand into earlier lines, with a notable increase in theranostics research. This modality, combining diagnosis and therapy, is rapidly evolving from a niche track into a mainstream treatment direction. The converging trajectories of both fields point to the same conclusion: cancer treatment is moving from single-agent modalities into a new phase of multimodal synergy.

Among the studies presented at this year’s ASCO, three original studies by Nanolattix Biotechnology, all focused on the tissue factor (TF) target, were simultaneously accepted. They include the world’s first bispecific RDC+ADC theranostics strategy (RB02+B836), the world’s first TF-targeted RDC theranostics pair (RT01), and Phase I clinical progress of the TF-targeted ADC T320. These three studies address the same question from different dimensions: when a single drug modality hits the ceiling of resistance and heterogeneity, can a synergistic strategy offer a systematic solution?

RDC+ADC Synergy: More Than “Two Drugs Used Together”

RDC and ADC are fundamentally complementary in their cell-killing mechanisms, making their synergy not a simple addition but a systematic coverage of tumor heterogeneity. More importantly, the diagnostic imaging capability of RDC provides a previously missing tool for ADC development. During the early development of RB02 (a TF/HER2 RDC), SPECT/CT imaging data revealed high kidney uptake of the candidate molecule. After engineering the antibody accordingly, renal accumulation was significantly reduced and tumor enrichment further enhanced. This detail reveals a deeper value: by developing RDC and ADC against the same target in parallel, in vivo imaging data from the RDC can directly inform optimization decisions for the ADC candidate, converting previously invisible biodistribution assessments into imaging-based evidence and systematically reducing development risk. This is not a pair of parallel pipelines, but an integrated development system where each modality validates and accelerates the other.

From Single-Target TF to HER2×TF Bispecific: A Clear Iteration Path

Understanding the intrinsic relationship among the three studies from Nanolattix requires viewing them along a single technological evolution line.

T320 and RT01 form the foundation of TF single-target theranostic synergy: T320 is a TF-targeted ADC, now in Phase I clinical trials, achieving >90% tumor inhibition in multiple xenograft models with early clinical data showing manageable safety; RT01 is the world's first TF-targeted RDC theranostic pair, with 89Zr labeling for PET imaging and 177Lu labeling for therapy. Preclinically, a single dose achieved 75.3% tumor inhibition, with efficacy lasting over 50 days; an investigator-initiated trial (IIT) has been launched. Both share the same TF-targeting antibody ligand, and in vivo imaging data from RT01 provide direct biodistribution reference during the development of T320.

RB02+B836 represents a critical leap forward from this foundation. The expansion from TF single target to HER2×TF bispecificity is driven by a clinical reality: in some patients, HER2-targeted ADCs such as T-DXd encounter resistance due to tumor heterogeneity and HER2 downregulation. Introducing the second TF target aims to mechanistically reduce the probability of tumor escape. Preclinical data show that B836 is significantly superior to single-target ADCs in cancer cell binding and internalization efficiency, with in vivo tumor inhibition superior to DS8201, favorable safety profile, a wide effective dose window, and no severe toxicities observed. RB02-177Lu achieves rapid and specific tumor enrichment in animal models with target retention >7 days and no prolonged non-target accumulation. Globally, no similar bispecific RDC+ADC theranostic combination has reached a comparable stage of development.

Observations

For Nanolattix, the significance of this data package lies not merely in its acceptance at ASCO, but in how it fully demonstrates an endogenous logic spanning platform technology, target selection, and the transition from single-target to bispecific approaches – a clear differentiator in the current landscape of intensifying ADC homogeneity.

Synergistic development of RDC and ADC remains a rare path in the global R&D pipeline. Pluvicto has validated the clinical feasibility of the RDC modality; bispecific ADCs are opening new clinical imagination; and Nanolattix is one of the few companies with early-stage data supporting a systematic framework that advances both modalities synergistically within the same targeting architecture. The accumulation of subsequent clinical data will be the critical juncture at which this strategy is truly validated.