AstraZeneca bets up to $6 billion on new Daiichi cancer drug

London-listed AstraZeneca said on Monday it would make an upfront payment of $1 billion to Daiichi for an experimental drug called DS-1062, which belongs to a newer class of treatments called antibody drug conjugates (ADC). The deal underscores AstraZeneca's push to bolster its portfolio of cancer therapies, particularly ADCs - a major area of focus for the company as it also ploughs on with its coronavirus vaccine candidate. "We see significant potential in this antibody drug conjugate in lung as well as in breast and other cancers that commonly express TROP2," said Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca's chief executive, referring to a protein on cancer cell surfaces.