July 29, 2022
CAR-T firm Legend Biotech has announced plans to raise $250 million by selling American Depositary Shares (ADSs) in an underwritten public offering.
In February, New Jersey-Nanjing cell therapy company Legend was approved to launch its BCMA CAR-T therapy, Carvykti, for multiple myeloma in the US, and EU approval followed in May. The company partners the drug with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen subsidiary.
At the recent ASCO convention, Legend revealed the CAR-T had not reached a median progression of disease or death after more than two years in multiple myeloma patients. Legend and J&J are conducting tests of Carvykti as a second-line therapy for multiple myeloma. At present, it is approved for fifth-line use.
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Legend believes Carvykti has the potential to post $5 billion in annual revenues. But to do that, it will need to be approved for earlier use in multiple myeloma, and Legend also must improve supply of the drug and make it less costly to produce each dose, issues the company says it is addressing.
Legend reported $440 million in working capital at the end of 2021.
Underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $37.5 million of ADSs sold in the public offering at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.
Legend raised $444 million in a NASDAQ IPO that was completed in June 2020. It has a market cap of $1.6 billion.
Legend is developing a portfolio of ten advanced cell therapies, including autologous and allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapies.
A version of this article was first published in ChinaBioToday.com on July 26.
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