Antibody-drug conjugates

AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Merck And Co., DaiichiSankyo Co., GSK GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol Myers Squibb are among the companies working on ADCs. Their activity spans targeting strategies, clinical development and patenting. Other active companies in the FACTS include Hoffmann-La Roche, AbbVie, Novartis and Gilead Sciences, with distinct target and construct programs.

Duality Biologics, Araris Biotech and Adcendo Aps are notable ADC startups in the FACTS. Duality develops oncology ADCs including CDH6-targeted CUSP06; Araris licenses a linker platform for building ADCs from unmodified antibodies; and Adcendo develops programs against tumor-associated targets such as uPARAP and sortilin. These examples show different routes to differentiation, rather than a definitive ranking.

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University are prominent research organizations in the FACTS. MD Anderson examines ADC use across solid tumors, Dana-Farber studies cancer applications and treatment sequencing, and Harvard-affiliated researchers review applications, toxicities and patient selection. Their work spans translational questions as well as clinical use.

The FACTS report $30,020,804 across 47 grants since 2020. They also record $150,149,583,484 across 43 funding rounds. These totals are broad landscape figures, not a clean measure of capital devoted exclusively to ADC research, so they should be treated as an indication of recorded funding activity rather than a verified ADC-only investment total.

Sutro Biopharma’s $110 million post-IPO round in February 2026 and Tubulis Technologies’ $356 million late VC round in October 2025 are among the recent listed rounds. The FACTS also include manufacturing expansions and other financing entries, which may not represent direct investment in an ADC candidate or platform.

Sichuan Kelun Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. holds the most patents listed in the FACTS, with 51, followed by DaiichiSankyo Co. with 48 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc with 44. Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical Company is also among the leading holders. The patent-holder counts indicate activity in the topic, not necessarily ownership of granted patents only.

No: ADC patent activity fell 21.2% in the last 12 months versus the previous 12 months, with 1,784 patents recorded in the stated window. By contrast, publications rose 27.0% to 2,936 in the last year. The contrast suggests research output is expanding even as patent activity has eased over the same comparison period.

The main approaches are linker chemistry, conjugation methods, payload classes, antibody formats and targeting strategies. Linkers control payload release; conjugation methods determine how the drug is attached; payloads drive the cell-killing mechanism; antibody formats affect binding and tumor access; and targeting strategies define the antigen and patient-selection approach. Each choice shapes efficacy, safety and manufacturability.

The listed applications include gastrointestinal cancers (2,348 documents), breast cancer (3,043), lung cancer (2,953), gynecologic cancers (1,855) and hematologic malignancies (1,485). These counts reflect the relative volume of topic activity, not clinical effectiveness. Research and development also address tumors such as esophageal cancer and bladder cancer, as reflected in recent publications.

The United States leads the country data with 25,104 documents and a 59.6% share, followed by China with 8,773 and the United Kingdom with 7,790. Japan, Germany and Switzerland also appear among the leading countries. These figures describe document activity in the FACTS and should not be read as a direct measure of commercial output.