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; in October 2025 it stopped its own cell therapy work.

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

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.

Sino Biopharm, through Chia Tai Tianqing, sells anlotinib, one of China's biggest cancer drugs, and bought LaNova Medicines in 2025 to add bispecific antibodies and ADCs.

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

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.

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, and in July 2026 bought Nuvalent, maker of ROS1 and ALK pills for lung cancer.

OrbiMed is a New York healthcare investment firm managing about 20 billion dollars across venture, private equity, public equity and royalty strategies, with teams in North America, Europe and Asia. Its cancer portfolio includes Adcendo (antibody-drug conjugates), Adela (blood-based cancer detection), Adicet Bio (immune-cell therapies) and Alterome (alteration-specific drugs).

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

A Boston biotech investment firm led by Bihua Chen that invests in private and public life sciences companies and is a frequent name in crossover rounds. Its website could not be reached at the time of research.

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.

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

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.

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.

The investment company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, based near Copenhagen. It is one of the largest life science investors in the world and its venture portfolio has included cancer companies such as Myricx Bio, which Novartis bought in August 2026.

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.

A Palo Alto life sciences investment firm founded by Srinivas Akkaraju that invests in private and public biotech companies. Its website could not be read at the time of research.

Genmab is the Danish antibody engineering company behind the DuoBody platform, Tivdak, Epkinly, (via ProfoundBio) rinatabart sesutecan, and since December 2025 Merus and its bispecific antibody petosemtamab.

Gilead owns Trodelvy (via the $21B Immunomedics deal) and the Kite CAR-T franchise, and in April 2026 bought Arcellx, its partner on the myeloma CAR-T anito-cel.

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

A Chicago venture firm that starts and funds science-heavy biotech companies. Several of its companies work on cancer drugs, cancer cell therapies and cancer diagnostics.

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.

BeOne Medicines makes Brukinsa, the leading BTK inhibitor, and tislelizumab, is the Asia partner for zanidatamab, and won US approval for its BCL-2 inhibitor sonrotoclax (Beqalzi) in May 2026.

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.

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.

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

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.

Johnson & Johnson's venture capital arm, one of the oldest corporate venture groups in healthcare. It invests alongside J&J's innovation centres and JLABS incubators, including in cancer companies.

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.

A San Francisco life sciences venture firm that builds biotech companies in its own laboratories in North America and Europe. It created the radiopharmaceutical company RayzeBio and backed Gritstone, Repare and Abdera.

BrightEdge is the American Cancer Society's own venture fund. It invests donated money in start-ups working on cancer and returns any gains to the charity's mission.

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

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

Exact Sciences makes Cologuard and Oncotype DX and is launching Cancerguard MCED and Oncodetect MRD; Abbott completed its purchase of the company on 23 March 2026.

Logos Capital is a San Francisco healthcare investment firm that backs biotech companies from private rounds through their public life, and turns up repeatedly in cancer drug financings.

Pfizer's corporate venture arm, which invests in early biotech companies in the areas Pfizer cares about, including cancer. Its oncology portfolio includes Artios Pharma, Crossbow Therapeutics and Strata Oncology.

A Boston venture firm with a long record of co-founding biotech companies with academic scientists such as Bob Langer. Its cancer companies include Syros Pharmaceuticals, Kronos Bio and the blood-test company Freenome.

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

Third Rock Ventures builds biotech companies from scratch around a scientific idea, then funds and staffs them. Several of the best-known precision oncology companies of the last fifteen years started in its offices.

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

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

The life sciences and healthcare arm of the Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). It backs founders who mix biology, software and care delivery, including a small number of cancer drug and diagnostics start-ups.