London Precision Oncology Week: ImmunoMark (3–4 Mar) + World ADC London

London Precision Oncology Week: ImmunoMark (3–4 Mar) + World ADC London

Early March 2027 puts two halves of the same oncology conversation in London within eight days. ImmunoMark Summit London, the immuno-oncology and biomarker conference, runs on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 March, and World ADC London follows on 8–11 March. For antibody-drug conjugate developers, CDMOs, IHC and digital pathology companies and biomarker service providers, that is one trip, one hotel booking and two very different rooms of buyers.

This guide is written for the people who have to make that trip pay. It covers why ADC and IO combinations have pushed biomarker strategy to the centre of development, how to split a team across the fortnight, what ADC-focused vendors should bring to an IO and biomarker audience, and the practical London logistics.

Key takeaways

• ImmunoMark London (3–4 March 2027) and the main ADC meeting the following week (8–11 March) sit inside one fortnight, with a three-day gap from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 March.
• ADC plus checkpoint inhibitor regimens are now standard of care in at least one setting, so ADC programmes increasingly need IO and biomarker expertise, and IO teams need ADC target data.
• Target expression by IHC is the most common patient selection tool for ADCs, and scoring is moving from manual categories towards quantitative and computational pathology.
• The most efficient plan is usually to send translational, CDx and biomarker people to ImmunoMark, keep chemistry, CMC and conjugation people for the ADC week, and use the gap for follow-up meetings.
• ADC-focused vendors get the most from an IO and biomarker room by leading with patient selection, assay and combination data, not linker-payload catalogues.

Why ADC and IO combinations make biomarker strategy central

The clearest signal came in December 2023, when the FDA approved enfortumab vedotin with pembrolizumab for previously untreated, locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, based on the EV-302 trial. Pfizer described it as the first approved combination of an ADC and a PD-1 inhibitor. Many ADC programmes are now testing checkpoint combinations, which means two biomarker questions have to be answered in the same patient: is the ADC target there, and is the tumour immunologically primed to respond?

Those questions do not always point the same way. ADC activity depends on target antigen expression, internalisation and payload sensitivity. Checkpoint response depends on PD-L1, tumour mutational burden, immune infiltration and the wider microenvironment. A trial that enriches for one can unintentionally dilute the other. That is why ADC patient selection is no longer a question for the antibody team alone. We set out the scientific case in more detail in our piece on ADC and immunotherapy patient selection.

Target expression and IHC scoring

Most approved ADC selection tests are immunohistochemistry assays, and the scoring rules have become a strategic decision in their own right.

Two trends stand out. First, cut-offs are moving to lower expression levels, which puts more weight on assay sensitivity and on reproducibility between pathologists at the 0 and 1+ boundary. Roche notes that HER2-ultralow means IHC 0 with membrane staining, a distinction that its January 2025 announcement says may apply to roughly 20 to 25% of HR-positive, HER2-negative patients. Second, scoring is moving from categorical human reads to quantitative image analysis. Roche describes the TROP2 device as the first computational pathology companion diagnostic to receive Breakthrough Device Designation, built on AstraZeneca’s quantitative continuous scoring platform.

Patient selection in combinations

In an ADC plus checkpoint inhibitor trial, the biomarker plan typically has to cover target expression, PD-L1 status, a view of immune infiltration and, increasingly, spatial relationships between them. Expression heterogeneity matters for both drugs: an ADC with a bystander payload may tolerate patchy target expression, while immune response may depend on where T cells sit relative to target-positive tumour cells. Multiplex immunofluorescence and spatial methods are well placed to answer that, but they then have to be simplified into something a routine pathology lab can run. For the IO side of that equation, see our guide to PD-L1 as a predictive biomarker.

The fortnight at a glance

World ADC London is scheduled for 8–11 March 2027 according to the organiser’s website, the Monday to Thursday after ImmunoMark London. It is the larger ADC-specific meeting of the two, focused on conjugate design, development and manufacturing, while ImmunoMark covers the immuno-oncology and biomarker side. The calendar looks like this:

One trip, two weeks of meetings: a planner

How to split the team

Few companies can justify sending the same four people to both meetings for nine days. A more efficient split is to match people to the buyer in each room.

• ImmunoMark week: translational science, biomarker and CDx leads, medical affairs, digital pathology and BD people who sell into translational medicine and companion diagnostics groups.
• The ADC week: conjugation chemistry, CMC and manufacturing, analytical development and the BD people who sell to ADC programme heads.
• Both weeks: one senior commercial lead who carries the account view across the fortnight, so an introduction made on 3 March is followed up properly on 9 March.

Booking 1:1s

ImmunoMark runs pre-arranged 1:1 meetings, and at the London 2026 edition sponsors held 15–25 meetings each. Book those first, because they set the target account list for the whole trip. A practical sequence:

• Eight to ten weeks out: agree the account list across both weeks, and decide which accounts belong to which week.
• Six weeks out: request ImmunoMark 1:1s with translational and CDx owners of ADC or ADC combination programmes.
• Four weeks out: invite the same companies’ CMC and chemistry people to meet the second team the following week, referencing the first meeting.
• On site: close each ImmunoMark meeting with a specific follow-up slot on 5 March or during the second week.

Using the week between

The Friday and weekend gap is the most underused part of the fortnight. Use it for a team debrief while notes are fresh, for follow-up meetings with London-based biotechs and investors, and for visits to labs in London, Cambridge or Oxford. If the team swaps over, schedule a handover call on Friday so the second team knows exactly which conversations are warm.

What ADC-focused vendors should bring to an IO and biomarker room

An ImmunoMark audience is mostly translational, clinical and diagnostics people, with 45–50% in senior leadership according to the event prospectus. They are less interested in a linker-payload catalogue than in how your work changes who gets treated and how that is proved. Bring:

• Patient selection data. Target expression distributions across indications, especially at the low end of the scale, and how they relate to response.
• Assay readiness. For IHC and digital pathology companies: antibody clone, platform, scoring approach, inter-reader agreement and the path to a CDx. For CDMOs and ADC developers: who your diagnostic partner is and when the assay will be locked.
• Combination rationale. Any data on payload effects on immunogenic cell death, immune infiltration or PD-L1 changes on treatment.
• Regulatory planning. How the selection test will meet FDA and EU IVDR requirements. Our IVDR companion diagnostics guide covers the European side.

Several sessions on the 2027 London agenda speak directly to these topics, including “Regulation of Companion Diagnostics from a Pharma Perspective”, “Companion Diagnostics and the Role of Diagnostics in Precision Medicine” (Rafael Carrión Izquierdo, Roche), “Digital Pathology & Spatial Transcriptomics in Oncology”, “Keynote: Next-Gen Combo Immunotherapies” (Ivan Diaz-Padilla, Ipsen) and “Panel: Global CDx Approval Pathways – EMA, FDA & MHRA Perspectives”. See our London speaker spotlights for more on the people presenting.

London logistics

• Book early. Early March is a busy period for London life science meetings, so book hotels as soon as the plan is agreed.
• Base the team sensibly. If you stay for both weeks, check both venues and choose a base with a direct Underground or Elizabeth line connection, because cross-London journeys can easily take an hour at peak times.
• Airports. Heathrow is the main long-haul hub and is linked to central London by the Elizabeth line and the Heathrow Express. Eurostar from St Pancras is a practical option for European colleagues joining for one week only.
• Getting around. Contactless bank cards and phones work across the Underground, buses and the Elizabeth line, so there is no need to buy a separate travel card.
• Weather. Early March is cold and often wet. Plan for coats and umbrellas between venues and dinners.

For a wider view of the city’s calendar, see our London biotech and life science events guide.

Meet the biomarker side of the ADC conversation at ImmunoMark London

The immuno-oncology and biomarker conference in London returns for its second year on 3–4 March 2027, with a target of 400+ attendees. It runs two parallel streams, Stream 1: Next-Gen Immuno-Oncology and Stream 2: Biomarkers & Companion Diagnostics, with keynotes, panels, case studies, pre-arranged 1:1 meetings and a Day 1 drinks reception. The 2026 London edition brought together 300+ attendees from 100+ companies, 70% of them senior decision-makers, including teams from GSK, Roche, AstraZeneca, BMS and J&J.

Register for ImmunoMark London 2027

If your company wants to meet this audience directly, whether you develop ADCs, supply IHC and digital pathology assays or run biomarker services, see the London 2027 sponsorship packages or our page on sponsoring a companion diagnostics conference in London.

FAQs

When is World ADC London 2027?

The organiser’s website lists World ADC London for 8–11 March 2027. That is the Monday to Thursday after ImmunoMark Summit London (3–4 March 2027), so both can be covered in a single trip with a three-day gap between them.

Why should ADC companies attend an immuno-oncology and biomarker conference?

Because ADCs are increasingly developed in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, and their approvals depend on target expression tests. The people who design those trials, choose IHC cut-offs and run companion diagnostic programmes are translational, biomarker and CDx leads, which is the core ImmunoMark audience.

How should a company split its team across the two London weeks?

Send translational, biomarker, CDx and medical affairs people to ImmunoMark on 3–4 March, keep chemistry, CMC and manufacturing people for the ADC week, and have one senior commercial lead cover both so accounts are followed through. Use Friday 5 March and the weekend for debriefs and follow-up meetings.

Which ImmunoMark London sessions are most relevant to ADC patient selection?

On the 2027 agenda, the most relevant sessions include “Regulation of Companion Diagnostics from a Pharma Perspective”, “Digital Pathology & Spatial Transcriptomics in Oncology”, “Keynote: Next-Gen Combo Immunotherapies” and “Panel: Global CDx Approval Pathways – EMA, FDA & MHRA Perspectives”.