companies

Y Combinator is the start-up accelerator that funds hundreds of new companies a year in return for a small stake. Since 2014 it has backed a steady stream of companies going after cancer, from blood tests to engineered viruses.

AstraZeneca is the most ADC-committed large pharma, co-owner of Enhertu and Datroway, with deep targeted-therapy and radiopharma bets.

The company that made radioligand therapy a business, with Pluvicto and Lutathera, and the maker of Kisqali and Gleevec.

Bought Seagen for $43B to become an ADC leader; also makes Ibrance, Lorbrena, Braftovi, and the first PROTAC.

Creator of Herceptin, Avastin, and Rituxan, and owner of Foundation Medicine; the company that defined antibody oncology.

Pioneer of checkpoint inhibitors (Opdivo, Yervoy), now betting on the first successful bispecific ADC and alpha radiopharmaceuticals.

Merck & Co. (MSD) makes Keytruda, the world's best-selling cancer drug, and is now building the next act around TROP2 ADCs and personalised vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson leads in multiple myeloma (Darzalex, Carvykti, Tecvayli, Talvey) and in bispecific antibodies for lung cancer (Rybrevant).

Eli Lilly makes Verzenio and Retevmo, as well as the oral SERD imlunestrant and the BTK inhibitor pirtobrutinib.

Jiangsu Hengrui is China's largest oncology pharma, maker of pyrotinib and the HER2 ADC trastuzumab rezetecan, and one of the biggest out-licensers of Chinese assets.

Sanofi makes Sarclisa (isatuximab), now in a subcutaneous form approved in July 2026.

Takeda co-owns Adcetris outside the US and is developing STING-agonist conjugates and CAR-NK cells.

AbbVie owns Venclexta and Elahere, and bought Capstan, the leading in vivo CAR-T company.

Sino Biopharm, through Chia Tai Tianqing, sells anlotinib, one of China's biggest cancer drugs, and acquired LaNova Medicines to add bispecific antibodies and ADCs.

Amgen invented the BiTE T-cell engager format and the first KRAS inhibitor.

Even One Ventures is a venture studio that builds companies in the image of one patient's playbook: Sid Sijbrandij, the GitLab co-founder who, told in 2024 that he had run out of options for recurrent osteosarcoma, assembled a team, pursued every diagnostic and built individualised treatments in parallel.

GSK makes Jemperli, Zejula, and the twice-approved myeloma ADC Blenrep.

CSPC is a large Chinese pharma whose cancer business rests on albumin-bound paclitaxel and liposomal doxorubicin generics, an ADC pipeline and a growing list of licences to Western companies.

Incyte makes pemigatinib, the first targeted drug approved for bile duct cancer (2020), and the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib.

A Boston investment firm that funds biotech companies both privately and on the stock market, and incubates its own. Its cancer bets include Aktis Oncology, CG Oncology and Bicara Therapeutics.

Bayer owns Xofigo, the only approved alpha emitter, and is developing next-generation actinium PSMA agents.

Hutchmed discovered fruquintinib, the first Chinese cancer drug approved by the FDA for a common cancer, and savolitinib, its MET inhibitor partnered with AstraZeneca.

Qilu Pharmaceutical is a China-based pharmaceutical company running 20 late-stage cancer trials of QL1706, QLC5508 and QL2107 in non-small-cell lung cancer, oesophageal cancer and triple-negative breast cancer.

Astellas co-owns Padcev and makes Vyloy, the first Claudin 18.2 drug.

Genmab is the Danish antibody engineering company behind the DuoBody platform, Tivdak, Epkinly, and (via ProfoundBio) rinatabart sesutecan.

Gilead owns Trodelvy (via the $21B Immunomedics deal) and the Kite CAR-T franchise.

Innovent makes sintilimab, China's best-selling PD-1 antibody, and has become a source of next-generation assets for Roche and Takeda.

Ipsen is the French pharma behind Onivyde (liposomal irinotecan) and the NALIRIFOX regimen, and marketer of tovorafenib in Europe.

Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, which trades as EMD Serono in North America, sells the anti-PD-L1 antibody avelumab, cetuximab outside the United States and the MET inhibitor tepotinib, and bought SpringWorks Therapeutics in 2025 to add nirogacestat and mirdametinib for rare tumours.

BeOne Medicines makes Brukinsa, the leading BTK inhibitor, and tislelizumab, and is the Asia partner for zanidatamab.

Daiichi Sankyo is the Japanese company whose DXd payload technology created the best ADC platform in the industry.

Japanese pharma that makes lenvatinib (Lenvima), a first-line option in liver cancer and a partner of pembrolizumab in several tumours.

GI Innovation is a South Korea-based biotechnology company that leads 3 cancer trials in OnCo, testing the bispecific fusion proteins GI-101, GI-102 and GI-108 in non-small-cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and renal cell carcinoma.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals, based in Dublin, sells zanidatamab (Ziihera), a HER2-targeting antibody, outside Asia for biliary tract and gastro-oesophageal cancer, alongside Rylaze, Zepzelca (lurbinectedin) and CPX-351 for acute myeloid leukaemia. Whether zanidatamab can grow from a rare bile duct indication into gastric cancer is its open question.

Pierre Fabre is a French pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetics group whose oncology franchise includes vinorelbine (Navelbine), vinflunine (Javlor) and the BRAF/MEK pair encorafenib and binimetinib in Europe.

Regeneron makes Libtayo and has a large portfolio of CD3 bispecifics (odronextamab, linvoseltamab).

Servier is the private French pharma that brought vorasidenib, the first low-grade glioma drug, to market.

Chinese biotech whose ivonescimab beat Keytruda head-to-head, and developer of the Nectin-4×TROP2 ADC.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech-only venture firm that seeds and incubates new drug companies. Cancer companies it has built include Bicycle Therapeutics, Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Antares Therapeutics.

Private German pharma whose zongertinib became the first oral HER2 inhibitor for lung cancer.

A life sciences venture firm that grew out of Frazier Healthcare Partners in Seattle and now operates independently, backing private and public biotech companies.

Chinese biosimilar and biologics company whose PD-1 antibody serplulimab is approved in China and Europe for small-cell lung cancer.

Acrotech Biopharma, part of Aurobindo, owns the former Spectrum Pharmaceuticals haematology portfolio: the radioimmunotherapy Zevalin, pralatrexate (Folotyn), belinostat (Beleodaq) and vincristine liposome (Marqibo).

Alexandria Venture Investments is the venture arm of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the life science property company, and takes small, non-lead stakes across a large number of biotech start-ups, often tenants of its campuses, in oncology and other areas. Its web pages blocked automated access, so its own strategy and named cancer companies are unconfirmed.

Betta made icotinib, the first cancer drug invented in China, and later ensartinib, the first Chinese ALK inhibitor to win FDA approval.

From COVID vaccine to a broad oncology pipeline: personalised vaccines, ADCs from China, and a PD-L1×VEGF bispecific sold to BMS for $11B.

Exact Sciences makes Cologuard and Oncotype DX and is launching Cancerguard MCED and Oncodetect MRD; it is being acquired by Abbott for $21B.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts firm that invents and builds its own biotech companies rather than backing outside founders. Its cancer-focused companies include Foghorn Therapeutics and Repertoire Immune Medicines.

A San Francisco investment firm that funds healthcare companies at every stage with a data-science approach. Its cancer investments include CG Oncology, ALX Oncology, Kura Oncology and the blood-test company Delfi Diagnostics.

Hansoh is a Chinese pharmaceutical group whose EGFR inhibitor aumolertinib (Ameile in China, Aumseqa in the EU) became the first China-originated lung cancer pill authorised by the European Commission in 2026.

Minghui Pharmaceutical is a China-based biotechnology company that leads 9 cancer trials in OnCo, testing its MHB-series antibody-drug conjugates and the bispecific antibody MHB039A in prostate cancer and advanced solid tumours.

Recordati is an Italian pharmaceutical group whose rare-disease arm markets oncology and haematology products in Europe, including siltuximab (Sylvant), chlormethine gel (Ledaga) and dinutuximab beta (Qarziba).

India's largest drug company, which owns the branded cancer drugs Odomzo and Yonsa in the US and bought the PD-L1 antibody maker Checkpoint Therapeutics in 2025.

Suzhou BlueHorse Therapeutics is a China-based cell therapy company that leads 2 cancer trials in OnCo, testing the tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte product LM103 in non-small-cell lung cancer and melanoma.

Teva is the world's largest generic medicines company; its branded oncology products include omacetaxine (Synribo) for resistant chronic myeloid leukaemia, arsenic trioxide (Trisenox), bendamustine (Bendeka) and the G-CSF products Granix and Lonquex.

Zai Lab is the in-licensing pioneer that brings Western cancer drugs to China (niraparib, zanidatamab, repotrectinib, Tumour Treating Fields) and now exports its own bispecific and ADC assets.

3SBio is a Shenyang biologics company whose HER2 antibody inetetamab was approved in China in 2020 for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

The CERN spin-out that Novartis bought in 2018 for Lutathera, which now makes Pluvicto and the Locametz and Netspot imaging kits.

Agenus is a Massachusetts immuno-oncology company developing botensilimab, an Fc-enhanced anti-CTLA-4 antibody, with its anti-PD-1 balstilimab, notably in microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer where checkpoint inhibitors have not worked.

Aosaikang Pharmaceutical is a China-based pharmaceutical company that leads 3 cancer trials in OnCo, testing the anti-CLDN18.2 antibody ASKB589 and the MET inhibitor ASKC202 in non-small-cell lung cancer and advanced solid tumours.