New antibody‑drug conjugates presented at ESMO are extending ADC activity into earlier-stage disease and hard-to-treat subtypes. Sponsors reported encouraging response and disease-control rates that suggest ADCs can move beyond late-line settings when payloads and targeting are optimized. Data include early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer cohorts and global Phase 1/2 readouts showing high confirmed objective responses in select dosing arms, driving plans for pivotal development and combination strategies. Companies signaled plans to prioritize safety management and biomarker-driven patient selection as they scale development into registrational trials.