LEGN Stock On Track For Worst Day Ever As Investors Focus On Decelerating US Demand For CARVYKTI Therapy

• Chief Financial Officer Carlos Santos noted that CARVYKTI’s U.S. share growth in earlier lines of treatment has been slower than initially anticipated.
• He said the company still expects double-digit global CARVYKTI growth in 2027, though current consensus sits at the higher end of internal scenarios.
• CEO Ingrid Zhang stated that her priorities are to maximize CARVYKTI, while adding that she sees a $5 billion-plus peak potential for the franchise.

Shares of Legend Biotech (LEGN) fell 18% on Tuesday as investors reacted to third-quarter results that showed a return to profitability but decelerating U.S. demand for its key CARVYKTI therapy.

CARVYKTI is a therapy used to treat adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. First approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022, its label was expanded in 2024 to allow its use earlier in patient care.  

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LEGN stock is now on track for its worst day ever, if the losses hold.

LEGN’s Q3 Financials

The company reported total revenue of $359.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, up 32% from $272.4 million a year earlier and roughly in line with expectations. Collaboration revenue, driven by CARVYKTI, reached $353.2 million. Adjusted net income swung to$55.6 million, or $0.14 per share, from a $18.7 million loss in the prior-year period.

CARVYKTI net trade sales rose 36% year-over-year to about $710 million. U.S. sales grew 19% in the quarter, while sales outside the U.S. jumped 86%. The deceleration in U.S. growth stood out. In the prior quarter, U.S. CARVYKTI sales had risen 32% year-over-year.

On the earnings call, executives tempered near-term expectations. Chief Financial Officer Carlos Santos noted that U.S. share growth in earlier lines of treatment has been slower than initially anticipated, with overseas launch timing also affecting the fourth-quarter outlook.

“For Q4, we believe that the sales consensus is at the higher end of the range of scenarios that we are actually seeing, and this is primarily driven by changes in launch dynamics outside of the U.S., and as I mentioned earlier, a slower earlier -line share growth in the U.S. than we had previously anticipated,” he said.

He said the company still expects double-digit global CARVYKTI growth in 2027, though current consensus sits at the higher end of internal scenarios. “We remain really very confident in the long-term growth outlook for CARVYKTI,” Santos, however, added.

CEO Ingrid Zhang stated that her priorities are to maximize CARVYKTI, while adding that she sees a $5 billion-plus peak potential for the CARVYKTI franchise. The company is conducting studies aimed at expanding the therapy into further earlier lines of treatment.

How Did LEGN Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around LEGN stock jumped from ‘neutral’ to ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past week, while retail chatter rose from ‘normal’ to ‘extremely high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user dismissed the selloff, opining that the stock is dropping as though CARVYKTI “stopped working.”

LEGN stock has dived 8% year-to-date. 

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