Swift progress for Daiichi Sankyo and Merck & Co’s ADC

In potentially the biggest pharma licensing deal ever, Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) and US drug giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) announced a collaboration in October.

Just three months later, the evidence of why Merck is willing to pay so much - up to $22 billion - is already emerging.

The agreement is for the global development and commercialization of three of Daiichi Sankyo’s DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) candidates: patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd), ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd) and raludotatug deruxtecan (R-DXd).