If bispecifics had the steepest curve at ASCO 2026, antibody-drug conjugates had the broadest footprint. The ADC is no longer a single-indication drug — it has become a biomarker-defined platform that travels from tumor to tumor wherever its target antigen is expressed. The radar data captures that transformation precisely.
201 studies, and still climbing
Across the Knitify ASCO Radar, studies mentioning an antibody-drug conjugate rose from 158 in 2024 to 183 in 2025 to 201 in 2026 — a steady 27% climb over two years. Unlike the bispecific surge, which is led by a long bench of newer agents, the ADC story is anchored by a handful of franchises that keep expanding into new indications.
Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is the gravitational center, growing 60% in two years to 85 studies — more than any other targeted agent in the meeting. Enfortumab vedotin rebounded to 48 on the strength of its first-line urothelial position. And the most striking relative mover is mirvetuximab soravtansine, the folate-receptor-α ADC, which quadrupled to 16 studies as folate-receptor-defined ovarian cancer matured into a real franchise.
The pan-tumor playbook, visualized
The clearest illustration of where ADCs are going is to look at where a single one shows up. T-DXd's 85 studies are not concentrated in one disease — they fan out across every breast subtype (HER2-positive, HER2-low, and the emerging HER2-ultralow), then into colorectal and lung.
This is the defining ADC pattern of the era: a drug developed against HER2-amplified breast cancer is now a biomarker-agnostic agent wherever HER2 is expressed at any level, across multiple organs. The same logic is playing out for TROP2 (sacituzumab govitecan, datopotamab deruxtecan, sacituzumab tirumotecan) and Nectin-4 (enfortumab vedotin). The target, not the tumor, defines the market.
| ADC (target) | Originator stream | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| trastuzumab deruxtecan (HER2) | AstraZeneca / Daiichi Sankyo | 53 | 68 | 85 |
| enfortumab vedotin (Nectin-4) | Astellas / Pfizer | 37 | 31 | 48 |
| sacituzumab govitecan (TROP2) | Gilead | 38 | 50 | 46 |
| disitamab vedotin (HER2) | RemeGen (China) | 18 | 25 | 18 |
| trastuzumab emtansine (HER2) | Roche | 13 | 12 | 17 |
| mirvetuximab soravtansine (FRα) | AbbVie / ImmunoGen | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| datopotamab deruxtecan (TROP2) | AstraZeneca / Daiichi Sankyo | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| sacituzumab tirumotecan (TROP2) | Kelun / Merck (China) | 2 | 9 | 8 |
The competitive subtext: targets are getting crowded
The table surfaces a quieter but commercially crucial signal. The two highest-value antigens — HER2 and TROP2 — now each carry multiple competing ADCs. HER2 alone has T-DXd, trastuzumab emtansine, and China's disitamab vedotin all in the ASCO program; TROP2 has three distinct conjugates. Datopotamab deruxtecan's flat study count (10 in each of the last three years) against T-DXd's steep rise is a reminder that being second or third to a target is materially harder than being first.
For commercialization teams, the ADC takeaways are concrete. The validated antigens (HER2, TROP2, Nectin-4, FRα) are increasingly contested — differentiation now comes from payload chemistry, linker stability, bystander effect, and tolerability rather than target novelty. The open white space is in novel antigens and next-generation payloads (dual-payload conjugates, immune-stimulating ADCs, topoisomerase and non-cytotoxic warheads), several of which appear in early-phase ASCO 2026 studies. T-DXd's approvals in HER2-low breast (DESTINY-Breast04) and the EV-pembrolizumab first-line urothelial standard (EV-302) are the templates every new ADC program is now measured against.
Explore the underlying data
Every number above is live and pivotable on the Knitify ASCO Radar — analyze the 7,222 studies in the ASCO 2026 program by drug, indication, sponsor, or trial-in-progress status, and compare year over year against 2025 and 2024. Filter the board to an ADC or a target antigen to reproduce every count in this article. The radar links to each study on the official ASCO program; it does not reproduce copyrighted text.
Methodology & scope: figures in this article are structured signals the Knitify ASCO Radar derives from the publicly released ASCO 2026 scientific program (7,222 studies presented; 6,511 in 2025; 5,885 in 2024) — counting how many studies reference a given drug, indication, or modality class. They quantify research attention and momentum, not clinical efficacy or market share. Named trial results are quoted from public company press releases, the ASCO press program, and peer-reviewed journals (cited below). The radar does not reproduce any copyrighted text — it links to each study on the official ASCO program. This is editorial commentary on public data — not investment, legal, regulatory, or medical advice.