Running time
Published
Share:
Running time
Published
Share:
Antibody-drug conjugates remain red-hot in 2026’s biopharma M&A splurge. The overall ADC category will be worth $57 billion by 2032, according to Evaluate Pharma.
Gilead’s $3 billion acquisition of Tubulis and Lilly’s of CrossBridge Bio are two of the latest deals. More will come as ADCs expand to hit new targets and carry new payloads.
We’ve just published a new report on the ADC space which you can find here. And for a few highlights, you can watch my summary in the video below.
Antibody drug conjugates, they’re still red hot. In April, we saw Gilead pay over three billion for Tubulis in Germany. We saw Lilly pay several hundred million dollars for CrossBridge Bio. And of course late last year, that mega deal from Novartis paying $12 billion for Avidity. Evaluate’s forecasting that ADC sales collectively are going to reach over $57 billion by 2032. The attraction, of course, that this is a well-validated modality. There are a dozen or so ADCs already on the market in the US, but there’s also loads of room for improvement and loads of ways to improve ADCs. You can change the target, you can change the payload and/or you can change the conjugation technology that binds the parts together. So most of the ADCs on the market today use actually one of two types of cytotoxic drugs, the topoisomerase or the tubulin inhibitors. And that’s leading to some real problems with drug resistance.
So there are really urgent need on the payload front. But you also, in order to have new payloads, you need to be able to hook them on safely and effectively. So that’s where companies like Tubulis, their forte is in conjugation technology. CrossBridge Bio, similarly, they have a stable linker technology that they hope might allow multiple payloads to be hooked on. And there are already several dual payload ADCs in the clinic.
So in Avidity’s case, that’s interesting. They’re using RNA-based drugs as payloads and they call these antibody oligonucleotide conjugates. So they’re the ones Novartis has just bought. And these are being developed not for cancer, but for rare neuromuscular diseases. So we’re seeing indication expansion beyond cancer as well. Other companies are trying to hit more than one target with their ADC. So you may remember Takeda’s giant licensing deal last year with Innovent that featured a bispecific ADC hitting both EGFR and B7H3.And that’s just one example of many.
The permutations are almost endless. Companies are attaching degraders, radioligands, immunotherapies to their antibody conjugates and there are obviously many multi-specific ADCs in the pipeline. Of course, the whole lot can be combined with other kinds of medicines like checkpoint inhibitors.
There’ll be more deals to come.
By 2032, the global pharmaceutical market is forecast to reach almost $1.9tn. Inside the innovations, dealmaking, and portfolio strategies transforming the global biopharma pipeline.
Get in touch with our team to explore the right solutions for your business.
ADC deal activity reflects a balance of commercial validation and design flexibility. More than a dozen ADCs are already approved in the US, while developers can still differentiate through target choice, payload selection, or conjugation technology. That combination continues to attract sustained investment interest.
Recent acquisitions show strong interest in conjugation and linker technologies. These platforms can support safer payload delivery, enable new payload classes, and allow more complex designs such as dual payload ADCs. In many cases, the platform value rivals the importance of the lead asset.
Most marketed ADCs rely on two payload classes: topoisomerase inhibitors and tubulin inhibitors. This concentration is contributing to resistance and safety challenges, particularly as ADCs move earlier in treatment. These pressures are driving efforts to diversify payloads and improve delivery control.
Antibody oligonucleotide conjugates use RNA based payloads rather than cytotoxic drugs. They are designed to deliver genetic medicines to cell types that are difficult to reach with conventional RNA therapies. Recent transactions highlight growing interest beyond oncology, including rare neuromuscular diseases.
ADC development is expanding to include dual payloads, multiple targets, and new payload types such as degraders, radioligands, and immunotherapies. Many programs are also being evaluated in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, increasing the range of clinical and strategic options.
