CAR-T Sales Soar to $808 Million in First Half of 2025: Where Is Legend Biotech’s Next Breakthrough?

On the evening of July 16, Johnson & Johnson's earnings report revealed the impressive results of Legend Biotech's CAR-T cell therapy.

The financial report shows,CARVYKTI^®(Cilta-cel) achieved sales of $808 million in the first half of the year.Genscript方面，根据Legend Biotech与Janssen Biotech, Inc.于2017年12月21日订立的合作及许可协议，As of June 30, 2025, Carvykti generated net trade sales of approximately US$439 million.

As early as last year, Carvykti's total annual sales had reached $963 million, with combined sales of $343 million achieved in the first half of 2024.This round of semi-annual sales has increased by approximately 136% year-on-year and 30% quarter-on-quarter, showing a rapid surge.

In 2024, Carvykti has already reached the status of a "blockbuster" drug. Following the disclosure of this semi-annual report, Carvykti will also aim to achieve its annual sales target of $2 billion. How will it accomplish this? After Carvykti, which other pipelines from Legend Biotech are worth looking forward to?

Johnson & Johnson's Q2 2025 earnings report shows global sales reaching $23.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 5.8%; global sales in the innovative pharmaceuticals segment reached $15.2 billion, growing by 4.9% year-over-year, with operational growth at 3.8%.

Regarding the growth of the innovative pharmaceuticals sector, Johnson & Johnson stated,Mainly from the sales growth of star products in the oncology field, including the CAR-T cell therapy Carvykti.As well as the sales growth of products in the fields of immunity and neuroscience.

Carvykti's sales reached $439 million in Q2 2025, showing an increase from $369 million in Q1 of the same year, and more than double the $186 million recorded in Q1 2024.

Looking at the longer timeline, since Carvykti was approved and launched in the U.S. in 2022, its sales from 2022 to 2024 were $133 million, $500 million, and $963 million, respectively.Sales in the first half of 2025 have reached $8.08 billion, indeed on track to meet Johnson & Johnson's projected annual sales of $20 billion.

The skyrocketing sales of Carvykti are inseparable from Johnson & Johnson's global strategy.

After stunning the audience with a 100% objective response rate at the 2017 ASCO conference, Johnson & Johnson secured the co-development, production, and commercialization rights for LCAR-B38M from Legend Biotech with a $350 million upfront payment and a total deal worth $1.85 billion. This licensing agreement also set a new record for the highest upfront payment in a China-based pharmaceutical company's overseas licensing (License-out) deal at that time.

According to the agreement, Legend Biotech is responsible for early research and development, while Johnson & Johnson leads clinical development and commercialization. The revenue is shared between the two parties, with the distribution ratio being 7:3 in Greater China for Legend Biotech and Johnson & Johnson, and a 5:5 split in the rest of the world.

In March 2022, Carvykti was approved by the U.S. FDA for fourth-line treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). It subsequently received conditional approval in the EU in May 2022 and was approved in Japan in September.

April 2024,CarvyktiApproved for marketing in the US and EU for second-line treatment of MM, and in August received NMPA approval in China for adult patients with R/R MM who have undergone at least three prior lines of therapy.

In terms of pricing, Carvykti, which was first approved for marketing in the U.S. and then launched in China, increased from an initial $465,000 (approximately 3.34 million yuan) to $549,700 (over 3.94 million yuan), far exceeding the price of domestically produced CAR-T therapies at around one million yuan.

Since the approved CAR-T cell therapies are autologous individualized treatment solutions, their complex manufacturing processes and difficulty in mass production lead to high production costs, which in turn result in very high pricing for CAR-T products.

Even though Carvykti is expensive, its remarkable efficacy has ensured strong sales. To boost production, Johnson & Johnson has been continuously expanding its investment in manufacturing capacity in recent years.

In October 2022, Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech doubled their investment in the Raritan production base in New Jersey, bringing the total investment in the site to $500 million. Another facility, Obelisc, located in Ghent, Belgium, commenced commercial production in the third quarter of 2024 and is reportedly now operating at full capacity.

In April 2024, Johnson & Johnson reached an agreement with Novartis to produce Carvykti at Novartis' cell therapy facility in Morris Plains, New Jersey. In the first quarter of 2025, the Novartis production site commenced commercial production of Carvykti.

In March this year, Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech announced plans to invest $150 million in expanding their cell therapy manufacturing facility (Tech Lane) located in Ghent, Belgium. The production base has already commenced clinical production of Carvykti and is expected to initiate commercial production at this site by the end of 2025.

After a series of actions such as gaining approval for marketing in more countries worldwide, advancing frontline treatment, increasing prices, and expanding production capacity, Carvykti, which was already a best-seller, has now become even more powerful.

How Legend Biotech, the developer of the blockbuster Carvykti, will continue its legacy remains one of the focal points of industry attention.

In addition to its lead product, Cilta-cel, Legend Biotech's pipeline also includes several early-stage projects in clinical development, such as CAR-T (autologous), CAR-γδT (allogeneic), and CAR-NK (allogeneic).Covering hematological malignancies, solid tumors, and autoimmune diseases.In addition, Legend Biotech has also reached cooperation with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Novartis to jointly advance the progress of its therapies under research.

In its pipeline, there isAutologous therapy, allogeneic therapy, and in vivo autologous generation therapy, involving GPRC5D, CLAUDIN 18.2, DLL3, CD19×CD20×CD22, BCMA, and guanylyl cyclase C (GCC)...and multiple other innovative targets.

LB1908 is a targeted Claudin 18.2 autologous CAR-T therapy for the treatment of advanced gastric esophageal adenocarcinoma.It is derived from Legend Biotech's proprietary VHH antibody design, ensuring high specificity for CLDN 18.2. The product has obtained proof-of-concept data and has initiated clinical trials in the United States.

LB2102 is a dnTGFβRII-armored, DLL3-targeted autologous CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC).

In November 2023, Legend Biotech entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with Novartis for certain DLL3-targeted CAR-T cell therapies, including LB2102. Under the licensing agreement, Legend Biotech will conduct a Phase I clinical trial of LB2102 in the United States, while Novartis will be responsible for all other development of the licensed product.

In terms of technology platforms, in addition to autologous CAR-T cell therapy, Legend Biotech also sees the prospects and potential of allogeneic cell therapies. The company is currently exploring a range of multifunctional tools and cell types in pursuit of truly "off-the-shelf" cell therapies, such as allogeneic CAR-γδ T cell therapy, CAR-NK cell therapy, and non-gene-edited universal cell therapies.

It is believed that whether it is allogeneic cell therapy or autologous generation therapy, after breaking through technical bottlenecks, both will bring new hope to the cell therapy industry, patients, and even the global innovative drug field.

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