Legend Biotech

Legend Biotech was launched in 2014 as an early-stage cell treatment firm. The company was founded by visionary scientists who realized the promise of antibody-based medicines to treat disease and had the necessary expertise in immunology and gene editing to take the risk.

For two years, Legend Biotech, then known as the "Legend Project," worked in a freight elevator-sized chamber to develop a cell therapy for multiple myeloma, a hematological cancer that frequently relapses and can become refractory. The researchers created nanobodies for single-domain antibody therapeutics and then used patented methods to enhance the nanobodies' half-life.

Legend's scientists focused on chimeric antigen-receptor T-cell (CAR-T) research in 2015, making the company one of the first in the world to create CAR-T cells for the BCMA protein. Investigator-initiated studies began in China in 2016. Data from the trials were presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in 2017, resulting in a collaboration with biopharmaceutical company Janssen Biotech, Inc. to co-develop the anti-BCMA CAR-T, ciltacabtagene autoleucel.

Several health authorities across the world are presently reviewing applications for cilta-cel authorisation for the treatment of patients with RRMM. CARVYKTITM (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) was licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration in February 2022, and the European Medicines Agency granted conditional marketing clearance in May 2022.

Headquarters: 2101 Cottontail Lane Somerset, NJ 08873, USA

CEO: Ying Huang

Founded: 2014

Website: https://legendbiotech.com/