Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Legend Biotech, a Somerset, New Jersey-based bio/pharmaceutical company, have announced an additional investment of $250 million in their joint CAR-T manufacturing facility in Raritan, New Jersey. The additional investment brings the total investment in the facility to $500 million. The site currently manufacturers Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel, or cilta-cel), a jointly developed B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy for treating multiple myeloma.

J&J and Legend Biotech formed an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize cilta-cel in December 2017. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma in February 2022, by the European Commission in May 2022, and by Japanese regulatory authorities last month (September 2022).

The additional investment in the Raritan facility will enable the companies to have production capacity to address industry-wide supply constraints for lentiviral vectors and to meet demand for projected $5-billion-plus peak sales for the product. The partnership between the companies now includes two joint CAR-T manufacturing facilities, one in Raritan, New Jersey, and one in Nanjing, China. Another facility is under construction in Ghent, Belgium.

Source: Legend Biotech