Legend, a small biotech company, wants to compete with Big Pharma. Wall Street has faith in it.

Shares of Legend Biotech, a mid-cap developer of new cancer treatments, surged by more than 40% in early June after the company announced: the earliest data show that its experimental CAR-T therapy for lymphoma has cured five of the six patients participating in the trials.

CAR-T is a type of cancer cell therapy that currently requires the extraction of immune cells from the human body and their modification in a laboratory. Legend is exploring a fundamentally new approach—reprogramming cells inside the body.

If successful, the drug could pose serious competition to existing treatments, according to the Biopharma Dive website. Wall Street is generally optimistic about the company’s prospects and expects its stock price to double.

Legend Biotech began as a subsidiary of another biotechnology company—GenScript—whose history deserves just as much attention for understanding Legend’s business and ambitions.

GenScript was founded in the United States in 2002 by Dr. Fanliang (Frank) Zhang, along with his partners Ye and Luquan Wang, with just $5,000 in startup capital. He wanted to solve a problem faced by many researchers and pharmaceutical companies: the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of gene synthesis.

Initially, GenScript synthesized DNA on a contract basis for other companies; in 2004, it opened a manufacturing center in China and began producing protein molecules and antibodies. It later diversified its business, leading to the creation of two subsidiaries: Bestzyme, a manufacturer of enzymes for the food industry, in 2013, and Legend, a developer of cancer cell therapies, in 2014.

In 2015, GenScript’s shares began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; since then, their price has risen by nearly 750%. For his contribution to accelerating innovation, Frank Zhang was named a finalist in the regional round of the “Entrepreneur of the Year” award presented by the consulting firm EY in 2026. Over the years, the list has included Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

For its first two years, Legend—which was then called Legend Project— was housed in a space the size of a freight elevator. Its first development was “standard” CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, a malignant and aggressive blood cancer.

Most of the myeloma treatments approved at that time were not very effective. In the absence of tumors or masses that could be removed or treated with targeted therapy, cancer cells remain in the body even after treatment, according to the British charity Myeloma UK. Over time, these cells begin to multiply, leading to a relapse and making myeloma, in essence, incurable. CAR-T therapy uses genetic modification to “train” a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and destroy the cancer.

In 2017, Legend secured the support of a major partner—Janssen, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The parties agreed to jointly develop and commercialize a CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma. Under the agreement, Legend received an upfront payment of $350 million, the right to milestone payments as development progresses, as well as 50% of future global sales of the drug and 70% of its sales in China.

In April 2020, the company raised $150 million from institutional investors, and in June it held its IPO on Nasdaq—simultaneously spinning off from GenScript. During the initial public offering, Legend sold nearly 21.2 million American Depositary Shares (one ADS equals two common shares) at $23 each. On the very first day of trading, the price soared by 85% to $42.56.

The company needed the funds, in part, to complete clinical trials of CAR-T therapy and to cover the costs associated with its regulatory approval. In 2022, the drug, named Carvykti, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission. In its very first year, sales of the drug enabled the company to increase its revenue by 71%—to $117 million. By the end of 2025, Legend reported a 64% year-over-year increase in this figure—to $1 billion. In 2026, Carvykti sales alone generated approximately $597 million in the first quarter, a 62% increase year-over-year.

Now, as a leading player in the cell therapy market, Legend has moved on to “in vivo” research—where immune cells are modified directly within the human body, according to Biopharma Dive. Initial clinical data published in June showed that all six lymphoma patients who received the company’s experimental drug experienced tumor shrinkage or complete remission.

The study’s results offer hope that Legend therapy could pose serious competition to “ex vivo” drugs—that is, those modified in the laboratory— according to Biopharma Dive.

The CAR-T drug market is worth approximately $3 billion, but only about 20% of patients receive treatment, according to a Barclays investment note (available on Oninvest) citing Legend’s management. “Ex vivo” therapy is complex to manufacture, expensive, and faces logistical challenges, according to data from the College of American Pathologists, which limits its commercial potential. Legend believes that “in vivo” CAR-T therapy has the potential to expand access to cell therapy, and the market could grow to approximately $15 billion, Barclays notes.

Although the data published by Legend is encouraging, it is still too early to draw any conclusions, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets. Competitors have set the bar high, and it will only be possible to compare the effectiveness of their drug based on the results of longer-term patient follow-up, according to their investment note (available on Oninvest).

One of its competitors is the biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics, whose drug is also in the early stages of development. In April, pharmaceutical giant Lilly agreed to acquire the company for $7 billion, of which $3.25 billion will be paid upfront. This acquisition underscores Big Pharma’s interest in in vivo CAR-T therapy, according to an investment note from H.C. Wainwright, which was released after Legend published its data (available on Oninvest).

RBC believes that the results of the Legend study are also positive from a strategic perspective, opening up new opportunities for the company beyond Carvykti. Analysts have estimated its sales potential at $8 billion.

According to its website, Legend is currently investigating a total of 11 "ex vivo" CAR-T therapies and three "in vivo" CAR-T therapies in early-stage development.

The company's stock has 13 "buy" recommendations from Wall Street analysts and two "hold" recommendations. The average price target is $57.5, which is nearly double the stock's closing price on June 24.