Daiichi Sankyo has finalised the acquisition of intellectual property rights for gatipotuzumab, an anti-tumour-associated mucin-1 (TA-MUC1) antibody, from Glycotope for $132.5m.
The gatipotuzumab acquisition builds on a 2017 option agreement and subsequent 2018 licensing deal with Glycotope, the financial terms of which were not disclosed. The one-time payment resolves all remaining clinical, regulatory, and sales milestone obligations, as well as royalties outlined in the 2018 licensing agreement between the two companies. Under that agreement, Daiichi Sankyo gained exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise gatipotuzumab as an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).
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By GlobalData
Gatipotuzumab serves as the antibody component in DS-3939, which is an ADC currently in a Phase I/II clinical trial (NCT05875168). This trial is evaluating DS-3939 in patients with advanced solid tumours, including non-small cell lung, breast, urothelial, ovarian, biliary tract, and pancreatic cancers. DS-3939 is designed using Daiichi Sankyo’s proprietary DXd ADC technology, which employs a combination of tetrapeptide-based cleavable linkers and topoisomerase I inhibitor payloads to deliver targeted anti-cancer effects.
TA-MUC1, the target of gatipotuzumab, is a glycoprotein overexpressed in most human epithelial cancers. ADCs – such as DS-3939 – represent a growing area of innovation in oncology due to their ability to selectively deliver chemotherapy to tumours.
The acquisition of gatipotuzumab also reflects a broader trend in the pharmaceutical industry, where ADCs have become a focal point of research and development. Since 2023, ADCs have dominated high-value pharmaceutical deals. The global ADC market is expected to grow as currently approved and pipeline ADCs become available for new indications and in earlier treatment lines, giving them a larger addressable market, as per GlobalData’s State of BioPharmaceutical Industry Report.
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Daiichi Sankyo has been particularly active in this field, and the company’s collaborations including the one with AstraZeneca, have led to the development of successful drugs like Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan), a HER2-directed ADC, and Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan), a TROP-2-directed ADC. Yesterday [13 January], the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted priority review to the biologics application (BLA) for datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd), an ADC targeting EGFR-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) developed by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca.
Additionally, Daiichi Sankyo has partnered with MSD in a $22bn deal to advance ADCs targeting HER3, B7-H3, and CDH6. Each therapy in this pipeline utilises Daiichi Sankyo’s DXd technology. Enhertu and Datroway are forecast to pull in $13.9bn and $5.3bn in sales in 2030, respectively, according to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center.
ADC content on Pharmaceutical Technology (Or Clinical Trials Arena) is supported by Syngene. Editorial content is independently produced and follows the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content.
