"The next five years are critical in defining Daiichi Sankyo’s future,” CEO Hiroyuki Okuzawa said Tuesday. | 418265747

Daiichi Sankyo is betting on a new wave of antibody-drug conjugates to reduce its reliance on Enhertu, as the Japanese drugmaker pushes to expand its oncology business ahead of the blockbuster cancer treatment’s patent expiry.

"The next five years are critical in defining Daiichi Sankyo’s future,” CEO Hiroyuki Okuzawa said in an interview Tuesday. "We have no intention of making Daiichi Sankyo a company that just happened to hit with ADC and ended there.”

The company aims to more than double oncology revenue to above ¥2.3 trillion ($14.6 billion) by 2030 and become one of the world’s top five oncology players by 2035.…