Legend Biotech jumps 42% as traders look at results from small cancer study

New York, June 3, 2026, 08:05 EDT

• Legend Biotech finished Tuesday at $36.28, jumping 42.22%. Regular U.S. trading picked up again Wednesday.
• Legend Biotech made the announcement after posting initial Phase 1 results for LB2501, its in vivo CAR-T treatment targeting relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
• UBS bumped its price target on Legend up to $49 from $31, pointing to the therapy’s prospects in non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Legend Biotech Corporation shares are coming off a 42% rally on Tuesday, trading on the Nasdaq. Investors are still digesting early cancer-drug trial results that lifted hopes for the pipeline behind the company’s approved multiple myeloma drug Carvykti.

LB2501 is an in vivo CAR-T therapy, which matters because in vivo CAR-T is designed to reprogram T cells inside the patient. Traditional CAR-T typically requires removing cells, engineering them in a lab, and then putting them back. Legend says with its approach, cell manufacturing and lymphodepleting chemotherapy—a treatment often given before CAR-T—might not be needed.

Legend Biotech said it has now treated 12 patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma at two dose levels as of April 1. All six patients in the higher dose group saw an objective response, with tumors shrinking or gone, and five of them had a complete response, so no signs of cancer.

Legend CEO Ying Huang called the results “an important step” for in vivo CAR-T, adding the approach could “simplify treatment delivery and expand access.” The company said all responses in the higher-dose group were still ongoing at the data cutoff. Legend Biotech

Oppenheimer analyst Kostas Biliouris said the data showed a “potentially best-in-class profile” for in vivo CAR-T, Reuters reported, and added this could boost Legend’s appeal as an acquisition target. The Wall Street Journal quoted Biliouris calling it a “best-case scenario.” Reuters

UBS lifted its price target on Legend to $49, up from $31, and kept a Buy rating. The bank said it now includes a market model for Legend’s in vivo CAR-T program in non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Next test is approaching. Legend said full LB2501 data will be out in a late-breaking oral at the European Hematology Association congress in Stockholm on June 14.

Carvykti, co-marketed by Legend and Johnson & Johnson, showed about $597 million in first-quarter net trade sales, the company said last month. That’s up 62% from the same stretch last year. The product is now in 18 markets. The stock reaction comes as the underlying business strengthens.

Legend’s commercial unit pulls in more than startup hopes. Legend posted first-quarter revenue of $305.1 million and a net loss of $54.3 million. Cash, cash equivalents and time deposits totaled $834.6 million as of March 31.

The impact goes beyond Legend. AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have both done recent in vivo CAR-T deals, Reuters reported, showing big drug companies are tracking if this approach can address some of the traditional cell therapy cost and access issues.

But the risk is clear. This is a Phase 1 study, and that higher dose data is from just six patients with 2.2 months median follow-up. Longer-term results, more information on doses, safety updates or any regulator comments could cool the rally. Legend’s filing also warns expectations could shift on any surprise clinical or regulatory news.

For now, the focus has changed. Legend isn’t being valued just as Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti partner anymore. The market is also treating it as one of the few public names with initial human data on a CAR-T approach that may be simpler to administer, assuming the data stays strong.

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