As­traZeneca’s big ADC part­ner pledges to pour $13.6B in­to can­cer R&D over next 5 years — and En­her­tu looms large

Dai­ichi Sankyo made clear its am­bi­tion to trans­form in­to a glob­al on­col­o­gy leader when it wooed Ken Takeshi­ta from Kite Phar­ma to be­come its R&D chief. Now, the Japan­ese phar­ma is throw­ing in the bud­get to back it up.

Takeshi­ta will have $13.6 bil­lion ($1.5 tril­lion yen) at his dis­pos­al over the next five years to steer new can­cer treat­ments to block­buster sta­tus. Chief among them will be a trio of an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gates, with the cen­ter­piece be­ing the As­traZeneca-part­nered En­her­tu, which has racked up $200 mil­lion in US sales in its first year.

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