Will there be more to Daiichi's story than DXd ADCs? Dr. John Tsai grabbed the reins of global R&D this year with a clear mandate: extend Daiichi's oncology momentum beyond its DXd franchise. Published Oct. 5, 2026 There's little doubt that Daiichi Sankyo has carved out a stronghold in the market for antibody-drug conjugates. Buoyed by its roster of ADCs, the company's first-quarter revenue rose 21% over the year before. Daiichi also raised its full-year revenue and operating profit guidance in July. But a question is hanging over Daiichi's future trajectory: Will the company have more tricks up its sleeves in oncology? So far, Daiichi's backbone has been built by its DXd ADC platform, which has spawned two marketed therapies. First came AstraZeneca-partnered Enhertu, which was launched in 2020 for HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer. The ADC has since soared to blockbuster status, racking up more approvals in additional breast cancer settings and other solid tumors. Daiichi expanded its ADC empire in 2025 with an approval for Datroway in HR-positive and HER2-negative breast cancer. The drug later won U.S. approvals in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, becoming the first TROP2-directed therapy approved in the lung cancer setting and the first TROP2-directed ADC approved for first-line treatment of certain patients with metastatic TNBC. In fiscal 2025, Datroway generated roughly $300 million in global product sales. And three other DXd candidates are waiting in the clinical wings across indications including lung and ovarian cancers and other solid tumors. But as Daiichi moves toward its next horizons, there'll be more to the story than its DXd platform, according to its global head of R&D, Dr. John Tsai. Tsai came aboard Daiichi this year after stints at large pharmas including Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen and most recently, Novartis, where he steered development for 160 new projects and 500 clinical trials, according to Daiichi. Although Daiichi's pipeline is not the largest he's managed, Tsai said it is the "most innovative." Tsai's mandate in the role is to push Daiichi towards new frontiers in oncology as it aims to become a "global top five oncology company" by 2035. It's a goal that will require developing not just new types of ADCs but other technologies, many of which could be used in combination with ADCs as well. This week, Daiichi announced an R&D collaboration aimed at exploring that combo approach. With its long-time partner AstraZeneca at its side, the companies are teaming up with Summit Therapeutics to test its closely watched PD-1/VEGF bispecific ivonescimab in combo with Datroway in multiple tumor types. Daiichi's aggressive push in multiple directions in cancer has also hit speed bumps. On Sept. 25, Daiichi and partner Merck & Co. pulled their FDA accelerated approval application for the clinical DXd candidate ifinatamab deruxtecan after discussions with the agency determined the companies' supporting data were insufficient for approval. Here Tsai explains Daiichi's long-term cancer development strategy, why its pipeline is competitive, and what he's learned from weathering clinical setbacks. This interview has been edited for brevity and style. PHARMAVOICE: What is your strategy for developing the next wave of ADCs? Are you aiming for another platform approach like you have with DXd? DR. JOHN TSAI: It's a multi-pronged approach. PharmaVOICE has 12-plus years of research capabilities that have been built in the ADC space, and PharmaVOICE is already looking at the next wave of ADC approaches. Whether that would be to overcome resistance to the existing ADCs, or to think about different linker and payload technologies for ADCs. Beyond that, PharmaVOICE is also looking at combinations that include novel approaches in immunology, and could be small molecules, bispecifics or multispecifics. PharmaVOICE could either combine these with its own ADCs or combine with existing agents in the marketplace. And beyond that, PharmaVOICE also have other platforms PharmaVOICE is looking at, including a targeted protein degradation platform. What people know PharmaVOICE for is its ADC approach, but PharmaVOICE has a lot of research and biological understanding in the various tumor types where PharmaVOICE want to expand.

AstraZeneca PLC, Daiichi Sankyo and Summit Therapeutics Inc. announce clinical collaboration to evaluate Datroway in combination with ivonescimab across multiple tumour types. Published on 10/02/2026 at 01:37 pm EDT S&P Capital IQ AstraZeneca PLC and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Summit Therapeutics Inc. to evaluate Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan) in combination with ivonescimab across multiple tumour types including lung and breast cancers. The companies intend to begin with a Phase III trial in 1st-line triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Datroway is a specifically engineered TROP2-directed DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and being jointly developed and commercialised by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. Under the terms of this agreement, each company will contribute their respective medicine for the planned combination trials which will be sponsored by AstraZeneca or Daiichi Sankyo. AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo and Summit will each contribute to trial costs and each company will retain development and commercial rights to their respective medicines. AstraZeneca also recently announced an equity investment which will help in part to support clinical collaborations evaluating combinations with ivonescimab including this agreement for Datroway, AstraZeneca?s separate agreement with Summit for combinations with sonesitatug vedotin (Sone-Ve), and planned future clinical collaborations intended to evaluate combinations with other AstraZeneca cancer medicines, including additional ADCs. (C) S&P Capital IQ - 2026

AstraZeneca deepens Summit ties on ADC-bispecific cancer combo testing pact. Ivonescimab is currently in development as a combination drug across several types of solid tumours. AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have partnered with Summit Therapeutics to explore the potential of their co-developed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan), alongside Summit's in-licensed candidate, ivonescimab. Through this collaboration, AstraZeneca and Daiichi will sponsor a range of trials evaluating the effectiveness of Datroway and the PD-1 x VEGF-targeting bispecific antibody, ivonescimab, in several tumour types such as lung and breast cancers. To kick off these efforts, the pair will first initiate a Phase III study of Datroway and ivonescimab, which will explore the combination's potential in frontline triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This development comes a little after Datroway became the first TROP2-directed ADC to receive approval in frontline metastatic TNBC for patients who are ineligible for treatment with either a PD1 or PD-L1-targeting immunotherapy. According to the deal, Daiichi and Summit will contribute to paying trial costs, and each company will continue to hold the development and commercial rights to their respective medicines. AstraZeneca and Daiichi signed this deal with Summit just days after AstraZeneca invested $2bn into Summit through an equity investment - providing the UK-Swedish pharma giant with an estimated 12% stake in the company, as well as a partnership to develop a claudin-18.2 (CLDN18.2)-targeting ADC, sonesitatug vedotin, in combination with ivonescimab. The pair take a ballooning interest in ivonescimab as the drug continues to demonstrate its promise in clinical trials, with positive readouts in NSCLC and biliary tract cancer potentially paving the way for the drug's expansion into a new indication. The drug has so far only made its debut on the Chinese market, where it is approved to treat a certain subset of patients with NSCLC. Ivonescimab is also under US regulatory review within this indication, with an expected PDUFA date of 14 November. Summit originally secured the development and commercialisation rights to ivonescimab in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan in 2022 through a deal with Chinese biopharma company Akeso for up to $5bn. Now, Summit and Akeso are developing ivonescimab for several solid tumour types in combination with other drugs. According to Summit's website, the biotech is currently exploring ivonescimab's potential in various forms of biliary tract, breast, colorectal, head and neck, lung, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. According to a consensus forecast from GlobalData, the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, the drug will be well on its way to achieving mega-blockbuster status in 2032, generating more than $9bn in sales during the year. Give your business an edge with its leading industry insights.