The biopharmaceutical industry witnessed a 400% growth in total deal value of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) focused licensing agreements from 2017-2022 and reached a peak of $16.6 billion in 2022, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

ADCs harness the precision of monoclonal antibodies and the potency of cytotoxic drugs to target and eliminate cancer cells. Their high specificity makes ADCs pivotal in combating cancer, as evidenced by the increasing number of ADC drugs marketed over the past two decades, alongside promising candidates advancing into late-stage clinical trials.

According to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center Deals Database, there were 150 ADC licensing agreements between 2018-2023YTD, with 40% (59 deals) in preclinical stage. Oncology was the top therapy for ADCs over the past five years with a peak at 36 agreements in 2022. During the first half of 2023, of the 19 disclosed licensing agreement deals, nine were in the preclinical stage of development, with a total deal value of $2.3 billion.

Ophelia Chan, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Biopharmaceutical companies are engaging in collaborative efforts for ADC drug development, and although they are becoming increasingly attractive to pharma giants within the industry, they still face certain challenges.”

Major ADC drugmaker Seagen secured multiple licensing agreements with leading pharma companies, including Merck & Co., Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AbbVie. Seagen’s advanced ADC portfolio comprises five marketed drugs: Adcetris, Aidexi, Padcev, Tivdak, and Tukysa. Notably, the company’s collaboration with RemeGen in 2021 led to a billion-dollar deal worth up to $2.6 billion for the HER-2-targeted ADC, disitamab vedotin (Aidexi), now available on the market.

Furthermore, in January 2023, the Netherlands-headquartered biotech Synaffix signed a licensing deal with Amgen worth up to $2 billion to provide access to its ADC technologies and commercial licenses for four preclinical oncology candidates.

Chan adds: “The companies’ collaboration currently stands as the biggest preclinical ADC licensing deal of the year.”

In March 2023, Pfizer also entered the ADC field with a $43 billion acquisition of Seagen.

Chan concludes: “Biopharmaceutical companies are building on their existing success and advancing towards the development of next-generation ADCs. Advancements in ADCs could potentially spur biosimilar competition; however, the complex design of ADCs presents a greater challenge for rivals. The lack of biosimilar competitors could provide ADC drugmakers with more pricing flexibility and foster new collaborations with top players in the biopharmaceutical industry.”

Note: Data in the chart includes all announced and completed deals globally from 2018 to 2023YTD as a percentage growth from the baseline year 2017. Includes deals where at least one drug involved is an antibody-drug conjugate where all stages of development are considered. Includes deals that have or have not disclosed their deal value in the public domain.