Waiv joins Daiichi Sankyo’s push into AI biomarker discovery

Waiv has entered a collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo to lead digital pathology biomarker discovery for an antibody-drug conjugate, or ADC, program, expanding Daiichi Sankyo’s growing use of AI partners across oncology R&D. According to the May 6 Business Wire announcement, Waiv, formerly Owkin Dx, will use its computational pathology platform on early-phase data, including tumor microenvironment analysis from H&E and IHC slides, to identify biomarkers of treatment response before later trial phases. Waiv said its platform is built for data-constrained settings, including studies with fewer than 100 patients. (via.tt.se)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals following translational oncology, the deal is another sign that AI-based pathology tools are moving deeper into drug development, especially where tissue samples are limited and patient selection is critical. Daiichi Sankyo has made several similar AI-biomarker deals in recent months, including collaborations with Lunit in December 2025, Imagene AI in April 2026, and Tempus in March 2026, suggesting a broader strategy to sharpen biomarker discovery, stratify likely responders, and support ADC development with multimodal data. While this agreement is in human oncology, the same pressure points, small datasets, variable pathology interpretation, and the need to match the right patient to the right therapy, are familiar in comparative and veterinary cancer research. (lunit.io)

What to watch: Watch for whether this collaboration yields a clinically validated biomarker test, and whether Daiichi Sankyo ties the work to a named ADC candidate or later-phase trial milestones. (via.tt.se)