IP Ownership Risk Grows in Booming Cancer Drug Market

The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space is experiencing an unprecedented surge in dealmaking, establishing itself as one of the most dynamic and high-value domains within biopharma.

A licensing deal announced on Oct. 21, 2025, between Takeda and Innovent Biologics featured an up-front payment of $1.2 billion, with the total deal value exceeding $10 billion, among several other significant transactions in the past few months. As the commercial momentum builds, so do the legal and contractual complexities surrounding ADC ownership and licensing.

In this Law360 article written by Patent Litigation partner Ryan Hagglund, Capital Markets & Corporate partner Lewis Ho and patent agent Bonnie Lau, the authors outline how the rapid expansion of the ADC market—driven by multicomponent technologies and a surge in cross-border deals with Chinese developers—has intensified ownership, inventorship and trade secret risks. They emphasize that these scientific and jurisdictional complexities make rigorous IP due diligence and robust contractual protections essential to ensuring enforceable rights and avoiding costly disputes.