In signing Legend, Novartis has chosen a proven partner, as the biotech has already successfully developed the CAR-T drug Carvykti for the blood cancer multiple myeloma in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. These drugs involve taking patients’ T cells, re-engineering them to identify and attack tumor cells and then re-infusing them into patients.
With this deal, Novartis is going in a riskier direction. So far, CAR-T treatments have only been shown to successfully treat blood cancers like multiple myeloma, leukemia and lymphoma, but not solid tumors like lung cancer.
