Asking More of Science: How Daiichi Sankyo Is Challenging Assumptions About the Future of Cancer Care

After playing a key role in sparking a new era in cancer treatment through its work in antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), Daiichi Sankyo is pursuing an even bigger ambition: to shape what comes next in oncology.  

The company’s new Five-Year Business Plan outlines goals to become a global top five oncology company by 2035 and to discover breakthrough medicines that may potentially help create new standards of care. 

Achieving that vision requires more than scientific expertise. It requires a willingness to challenge assumptions and continually ask more of science to create life-changing solutions for patients today and tomorrow. 

What turns innovation into impact for patients?

Every innovation starts and ends with patients. It’s about discovering what's possible and finding ways to bring innovation to more patients, across more cancers and stages of disease.

That belief is shaping how Daiichi Sankyo approaches medicine discovery and development. The company is committed to advancing its pipeline and launching up to 20 new indications across five medicines by 2030 to treat patients with breast, lung, ovarian, endometrial, gastric, prostate, urothelial and esophageal cancer among others. By 2035, Daiichi Sankyo aims to reach more than 700,000 new patients annually by exploring opportunities to bring medicines into earlier stages of disease and expanding into new patient populations to unlock possibilities that were previously out of reach.

That vision is reflected in the company’s momentum in 2026, with launches across four new breast cancer indications with two of its ADCs. Daiichi Sankyo has an ambition that every eligible patient with metastatic breast cancer will have the opportunity to be treated with a medicine invented by its scientists. A similar ambition is underway in lung cancer, where the company has 11 medicines in development and is planning more than 10 new indications by 2030.

What if today's ADCs are only the beginning?

ADCs have already helped demonstrate what targeted cancer medicines could achieve. Now they are part of defining where oncology innovation goes next. 

Daiichi Sankyo has created pioneering science and technology behind the resurgence of ADC development within the biopharma industry. The company’s ADCs have helped reshape expectations for cancer medicines, opening new possibilities across oncology — these medicines have reached patients in more than 95 regions and countries, helping more than 238,000 people living with cancer to date.

The company is advancing their current portfolio of ADCs and exploring their potential in earlier stages of disease, including curative-intent settings, as well as in combination with immunotherapies and other cancer medicines. Work is also underway on next-generation payloads and new ADC constructs, designed to address challenges such as tumor resistance and disease progression.

What does it mean to ask more of science?

Breakthroughs rarely come from a single idea. They come from a culture that encourages scientific freedom and embraces learning from both success and failure.

That mindset shapes how research is conducted and where it goes next at Daiichi Sankyo. The company’s R&D strategy is built around expanding and extending the impact of its innovation through treatment sequencing, novel combinations and precision medicine approaches that help identify the patients most likely to benefit.

Precision medicine is playing an increasingly important role in that effort. Daiichi Sankyo is leveraging AI-driven pathology, digital biomarkers and computational predictive biomarker approaches to better understand disease biology and support more informed development decisions.

At the same time, the company is building what it hopes will be the next innovation engine through inventing additional breakthrough medicines which may consist of additional ADCs, multi-specific antibodies and target protein degraders.

How does collaboration drive innovation?

Success is built on collaboration across the entire healthcare ecosystem, from scientists and researchers to healthcare providers, patients, advocates, payers and policymakers. Meaningful progress happens when diverse expertise comes together around a shared goal of improving outcomes for patients. 

Continued success in creating next-generation medicines requires collaboration alongside the world’s best scientific minds. The establishment of three Daiichi Sankyo Research Institutes in some of the world’s leading innovation hubs – Boston, Munich and San Diego – is part of the company’s strategy to identify unique and cutting-edge science that can serve as the building blocks for continued innovation. 

The future of cancer care won't be built by any one company alone. It will be shaped by the collective efforts of a global community and Daiichi Sankyo aims to be part of helping to shape what comes next. 

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