Antibody, peptide, and nucleic acid drugs in development: five years of global pipeline activity

Three modalities at three different points in their lifecycle

Grouping every drug by the most advanced phase associated with it shows how far each modality has travelled. Antibodies carry the deepest late-stage book. Nucleic acid drugs are concentrated at the front of the pipeline.

Nucleic acid drugs sit at Phase 3 at roughly half the rate of antibodies, at 8.3% against 15.2%, while carrying a third of their drugs in preclinical. Peptides sit between the two: preclinical-heavy at the front, with a late-stage tail closer to antibodies.

ADCs have doubled their share of antibody activity in four years

Splitting antibody drugs by whether they are conjugated shows where the growth inside the modality is coming from. Each column is the number of antibody drugs generating activity that year.

497 of the 2,736 antibody drugs are conjugated. Their phase distribution is front-loaded, with 222 in Phase 1 against 82 in Phase 2, so the share shown here reflects a cohort still concentrated in early-stage development.

Phase, delivery route, and therapeutic focus by modality

The same three cuts applied to each modality in turn. Switch between them to see how the profile changes.

Peptides are the most orally accessible modality here at 53 drugs, against 23 antibody and 11 nucleic acid drugs.

Between 437 and 595 new drugs appear each year

Counting each drug by the year it first generated activity gives the rate at which new drugs enter the market.

2026 covers seven months and is not comparable to the full years beside it.

Two countries hold 65% of global activity, with different modality mixes

Sponsor headquarters country for the ten most active markets, split by modality.

China's activity is 85% antibody, against 66% in the United States. Denmark is the only market in the top ten where peptides approach parity with antibodies, at 29 drugs against 35.

Sponsor funding mapped against pipeline depth

No disclosed raise can mean two different things. The company may be early, or it may be established enough not to need one. Reading funding against phase depth separates the two.

Of the 756 sponsors with no funding event recorded, 330 are associated with Phase 3 or Phase 4 drugs. The same row holds 73 companies whose drugs are all preclinical.

Most sponsors run one drug in one modality

The distribution of drugs per company across all 1,584 sponsors.