What happened
Shares of Legend Biotech (LEGN -1.66%) surged by more than 20% on Wednesday morning after a data leak regarding one of its clinical trials. The abstract, obtained by drug industry trade publication Fierce Pharma, came from a new phase 3 CARTITUDE-4 trial. It showed that one infusion of multiple myeloma drug Carvykti, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy from Legend and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Biotech, cut the risk of death or tumor progression by 74% compared to the current standard of care in patients who had tried one to three lines of therapy.
As of 12:20 p.m. ET, the stock was still up by 15.7% on the day.
Legend also revealed in an SEC filing that Carvykti generated first-quarter sales of about $72 million, based on information it was provided by Janssen Biotech. That's a big jump from the $48.2 million in product sales that Legend got last year as part of its collaboration agreement with Janssen.
So what
Carvykti was the second B-cell maturation antigen CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (The first was Bristol-Myers Squibb's Abcema.) If these newly revealed strong trial results for Carvytki hold up, Carvykti should have an advantage in the market. As it is, Janssen and Legend are struggling to meet the demand for the drug. Five days ago, Novartis signed a three-year deal to manufacture the drug for Janssen and Legend.
Now what
Legend focuses on advanced cell therapies, including autologous and allogenic CAR-T and natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapies. The company's shares are up more than 20% for the year, and the stock hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday. More importantly, the positive news for Carvykti could push Legend's bottom line into the green this year. In 2022, the company's revenue rose 70% to $117 million, and it ended the year with $1 billion in cash on the books. However, it lost $446.3 million ($1.40 per share) in 2022, compared to a net loss of $403.6 million ($1.43 per share) in 2021.
