RE: Novartis and Legend Biotech Sign Exclusive License Agreemen August 09, 2024 - Legend Biotech CEO Ying Huang, Ph.D., already had a lot on his plate when speculations of a potential geopolitical crackdown and the option of a buyout emerged.
The company’s CAR-T therapy Carvykti, partnered with Johnson & Johnson, is starting a launch in second-line multiple myeloma, as the two partners are busy expanding capacity at multiple manufacturing sites simultaneously.
Examples of Big Pharma companies buying partners in recent years are readily available. Sanofi last year paid $2.9 billion to acquire diabetes partner Provention Bio. Pfizer in 2022 shelled out $11.6 billion to scoop up Biohaven Pharma’s CGRP inhibitor portfolio just months after forming a collaboration on the latter’s migraine drug.
But lawmakers on the Congress’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party recently requested an intelligence briefing on GenScript, which is Legend’s largest shareholder and former parent. And the inquiry included Legend, raising fears of a potential BIOSECURE Act-like crackdown.
Just as that risk clouds over Legend intensified, a report in July suggested the company had received a takeover bid and had tapped Centerview Partners as a financial adviser to review its options.
Interestingly the report comes amid a biosecurity crackdown on Chinese biopharma service providers under the draft BIOSEUCRE Act that would preclude GenScript and three of its related business branches from doing business, including Legend.
[ Nothwithstanding all the smoke & mirrors that the Legend CEO tried to create around a potential buyout in early August - no offers have materialized since this rumor and report was floated by Legend's Chinese CEO]
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/legend-biotech-ceo-takes-close-look-business-amid-geopolitical-risk-ma-rumor