Legend Biotech, a cellular therapy subsidiary of China-based biotech producer Genscript Biotech, filed to go public on Wednesday with a placeholder amount of $100m.
The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq Global Market, though it has not yet determined how many American Depositary Shares it will issue, or at what price.
Formed in 2015, Legend Biotech is working on cell-based therapeutics targeting conditions such as cancer, where it has assets in the clinic aimed at haematological malignancies and solid tumours. The company also has a preclinical drug candidate for HIV.
Legend’s lead asset – called LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528 – is a chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma that it is developing in partnership with Janssen Biotech, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson.
Proceeds from the proposed offering would fund the clinical development of LCAR-B38M/JNJ-4528 and, if approved, its commercial launch. Part of the funding will go towards the construction of Legend’s manufacturing facilities.
The remainder will fund the development of Legend’s other pipeline programs and supplement working capital.
Legend agreed to raise close to $151m in series A funding last month from investors including Johnson & Johnson and its peer Eli Lilly, which committed the money through respective corporate venturing divisions Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Lilly Asia Ventures.
Hudson Bay Capital Management’s HBC Asia Healthcare Opportunities III fund, Capital Group’s Smallcap World Fund, Vivo Capital and RA Capital’s Healthcare Fund, Nexus Fund and Blackwell Partners vehicle also participated in the round.
JJDC gained a 1.3% stake in the company through the series A round while Lilly Asia Ventures acquired 0.5%. Legend’s largest shareholder is GenScript, which owns 76.9% ahead of the proposed offering.
AquaPoint, a limited partnership involving chairman Fangliang Zhang, director Ye Wang and GenScript, holds a 13.7%. Zhang is also a co-founder, chairman, executive director and chief executive of GenScript, while Wang is the corporate’s chief operating officer and president.
Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Securities and Jefferies have been appointed as underwriters for the proposed offering.
