Daiichi Sankyo's Antibody-Drug Conjugate Platform Shines but Faces Increasing Competition

Narrow-moat Daiichi Sankyo is a Japanese drugmaker with a global footprint and a cutting-edge development platform for antibody drug conjugates. As an established pharmaceutical company with a long history, it also has numerous lucrative business lines, including generics, anticoagulants, painkillers, and heart medications. In 2019, it formed a partnership with AstraZeneca and will co-develop and co-commercialize Enhertu and Datroway, its two leading assets from its ADC platform. In 2023, it formed another partnership with Merck & Co. to co-develop and co-commercialize three other ADCs: I-DXd, HER3-DXd, and R-DXd. We expect its ADC platform and other pipeline assets to drive growth over the next 10 years.