Johnson & Johnson said on Friday an interim analysis showed its drug Carvykti met the main goal of improving progression-free survival in patients with a type of blood cancer in a late-stage study. The company is testing Carvykti in multiple myeloma patients, with a history of relapse, who have stopped responding to existing treatment and have received one to three prior therapies.
Carvykti, developed by J&J and its China-focused partner Legend Biotech Corp LEGN.O, was approved by the U.S. health regulator last year based on an early-to mid-stage study to treat relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients who had received four or more prior lines of therapy.
U.S.-listed shares of Legend Biotech were up 2 percent in early trading.
Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that affects a type of white blood cell called plasma cells, found in the bone marrow. J&J estimates more than 35,000 people to be diagnosed with the disease in 2023.
Carvykti belongs to a class of drugs known as CAR-T therapies that work by harvesting a patient’s own disease-fighting T-cells, genetically engineering them to target specific proteins on cancer cells, and replacing them to seek out and attack cancer.
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