2024 Revenues ($USD) : $10.59B

Daiichi Sankyo, the Japan-based global pharma player, posted some strong numbers for the first nine months of its fiscal 2024 (ending December 31, 2024). Revenue hit 1,367.6 billion JPY (roughly $9.7 billion USD), a solid 16.6% jump year-over-year, and operating profit climbed even faster at 27.6%. Looking just at the third quarter, revenue was still up 8.5%, though net income actually slipped 7.0%, reportedly due to higher expenses.

Its big breast cancer drug Enhertu (partnered with AstraZeneca) continued to pull its weight, tracking towards nearly $4 billion in 2024 revenue. Despite that performance, U.S. CEO Ken Keller conceded 2024 "was not a perfect year." The company hit some bumps, getting a complete response letter for patritumab deruxtecan (HER3-DXd) and having to pull back an application for datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) in non-small cell lung cancer (nsclc).

Things looked brighter heading into 2025, though. Daiichi Sankyo snagged FDA approval for Dato-DXd (now branded Datroway) for its first indication in hr-positive, her2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Eyes are now on the pipeline, with the company expecting top-line results from eight registrational trials across its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) portfolio this year. That includes potentially five new uses for Enhertu and two more for Dato-DXd. They also managed to refile Dato-DXd for a slice of the egfr-mutated nsclc patient group, getting priority review from the FDA with a decision expected in July.

Looking ahead, the forecast calls for Daiichi Sankyo's revenue to grow around 12% annually over the next three years, which would significantly beat the average for the Japanese pharma sector. The company is clearly betting heavily on expanding its leading ADC position in oncology and even exploring next-gen stuff like bispecific ADCs. While last year's stumbles show the risks inherent in drug development, the Enhertu engine and the fresh Datroway approval put the company in a decent spot. Success really hinges on delivering with those upcoming trial readouts and executing well on the commercial launches to keep the momentum going and hit those growth targets.