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Legend (LEGN) Stock Up 20% on Data Leak From Blood Cancer Study

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Legend Biotech (LEGN - Free Report) stock jumped 20% after an abstract from a late-stage study was leaked online. The leaked data showed that one infusion of multiple myeloma drug Carvykti (cilta-cel) cut the risk of death or tumor progression by 74% compared with the current standard of care in patients who had tried one to three lines of therapy.

In the past year, shares of Legend Biotech have shot up 59.9% against the industry’s 10.2% decline.

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Carvykti is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy that has been developed by the company in collaboration with J&J (JNJ - Free Report) in a phase III CARTITUDE-4 study. Legend Biotech entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement with J&J to develop and commercialize cilta-cel in December 2017.

Legend Biotech and J&J have both withheld comments to confirm the data on the early release of the results for the time being.

Legend Biotech and J&J reported positive top-line results from the study in January 2023. The phase III CARTITUDE-4 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of CAR-T therapy against available standard-of-care therapies in adult patients with relapsed and lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma who received one to three prior lines of therapy.

The study met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival with statistical significance. Secondary endpoints include safety, overall survival, minimal residual disease negative rate and overall response rate. Patients will continue to be followed for primary and secondary endpoints as part of the CARTITUDE-4 study.

We would like to remind the investors that cilta-cel was approved by the FDA in February 2022, under the brand name, Carvykti, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Carvykti was granted conditional marketing authorization by the European Commission in May 2022.

Multiple myeloma is a fatal blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow and characterized by an excessive proliferation of plasma cells. More than 35,000 people in the United States are estimated to be diagnosed with this disease in 2023.

However, there are other players in the market like Bristol Myers (BMY - Free Report) and 2seventy bio (TSVT - Free Report) , with a drug having the same mechanism of action. Subject to approval from the FDA, Legend Biotech and J&J will face competition from BMY and partner, 2seventy bio’s Abecma.

In March 2021, Abecma received FDA approval as the first B-cell maturation antigen-directed CAR T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy.

BMY and TSVT are jointly involved in developing and commercializing Abecma in the United States as a part of the collaboration agreement. Abecma received approval from the European Medicines Agency in August 2021, for use in the European Union for the same indication.

Zacks Rank

Legend Biotech currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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