Daiichi Sankyo Revenue Rises 19.7% to ¥1.167 Trillion in First Half
Key Facts
Daiichi Sankyo reported revenue rose 19.7% year over year to ¥1,167.233 billion in the six months ended September 30, 2026, according to its official financial results. Core operating profit was ¥221.331 billion, up 46.9% from the year-earlier period, while operating profit rose 34.4% to ¥193.795 billion. Profit for the period was ¥153.056 billion, while profit attributable to owners of the company increased 15.8% to ¥151.534 billion. The results reflected mixed performance across the company’s units, with oncology expanding and the Japan unit declining. The company said its financial forecast was unchanged from the latest figures it had announced.
Oncology was the leading revenue driver, with unit revenue increasing 54.8% to ¥422.6 billion, driven by growth in Enhertu and Datroway in the U.S. and Europe. Enhertu sales in the first six months of fiscal 2025 were ¥256.1 billion, compared with ¥10.1 billion for Datroway, illustrating the difference in the drugs’ prior-period comparison bases. The company also attributed higher overall revenue to a positive foreign-exchange impact of ¥73.9 billion. The results therefore show contributions from product growth and currency translation gains to the increase in sales measured in yen. The company said Enhertu and Datroway grew in Western markets, without attributing the entire increase to a single factor.
By contrast, revenue in the Japan business unit fell 6.9% to ¥232.7 billion, as sales of Lixiana and other products declined despite growth in Enhertu and Tarlige. The EU specialty unit also posted a 0.6% decline in local currency to €809 million, while its revenue measured in yen rose 9.1% to ¥149.2 billion. The company attributed the difference between performance in euros and yen to currency translation effects. The results show that revenue trends were not uniform across regions and business units, even as oncology sales grew. Performance measured in local currency remains different from the value shown after revenue is translated into yen.
Sales growth was accompanied by higher expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 26.3% to ¥466.087 billion, mainly because of higher profit sharing with AstraZeneca. Research and development expenses also rose 10.7% to ¥240.055 billion. Despite the expansion in spending, core operating profit increased year over year by more than revenue did, and operating profit also rose. These figures place growth in marketing, administrative and research costs in the context of improved earnings in the first half. The results did not provide a figure linking the increase in each expense item to a specific product.
Sales performance coincided with regulatory expansion for Enhertu in multiple markets. In August 2026, China approved its use with pertuzumab to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, and Japan approved the same combination in September. On September 16, the company announced Japan’s approval of new first-line indications for Enhertu and Datroway in patients with metastatic breast cancer. On October 8, it announced China’s approval of Datroway to treat certain patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, as well as China’s approval of Enhertu as adjuvant treatment for patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer who have residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy before surgery. On October 22, it announced another approval in China for Enhertu to treat selected previously treated patients with metastatic HER2-positive solid tumors, in an use the company describes as targeting tumors regardless of their location.
Oncology portfolio developments also included clinical results and research collaboration, alongside a setback in a licensing application. On September 14, the company said Enhertu achieved median progression-free survival of 14.3 months as a first-line treatment in the Phase 3 DESTINY-Lung04 trial in patients with HER2-mutant lung cancer. On October 2, Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca announced a collaboration with Summit Therapeutics to evaluate Datroway with ivonescimab across multiple tumor types. But on September 26, the company announced the voluntary withdrawal of its licensing application for ifinatamab deruxtecan in a specific group of previously treated patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. These developments place regulatory and research expansion alongside the application withdrawal in a mixed context for the company’s portfolio.
Daiichi Sankyo kept its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027 unchanged, at revenue of ¥2.34 trillion and core operating profit of ¥360 billion. The company said its forecast was unchanged from its latest announced estimates. The half-year financial report is scheduled for November 6, 2026, with dividend payments set to begin on December 10. The company’s stock, listed under the ticker DSNKY, closed at $16.54 on October 29, according to EL7 data. The price follows publication of the results, and the available data do not include the stock’s trading range during the session.