On paper, it was another strong quarter for Carvykti. Johnson & Johnson reported record sales for the CAR-T therapy, signaling robust demand in multiple myeloma. Yet record revenue wasn’t enough to spare its partner, Legend Biotech, from a 10% stock drop, thanks in part to comments made during J&J’s earnings call.
The $657 million in Carvykti sales in the second quarter marked 48% growth year-over-year, largely meeting analysts’ expectations. However, a comment from Jennifer Taubert, J&J’s Worldwide Chair of Innovative Medicine, appeared to have stolen the spotlight on an analyst call last week.
In the latter half of the Q&A session during the July 15 call, Taubert noted that in second-line multiple myeloma, J&J’s alternative off-the-shelf combination of Tecvayli and Darzalex holds “the potential for cure,” an accolade that has previously been linked to Carvykti.
That phrasing likely rattled Legend Biotech investors who were already concerned about Carvykti’s long-term dominance and J&J’s commercial priorities. Shares of Legend dropped 10% to $23.04 apiece during July 15’s trading and continued to decline the following days amid an overall biotech market correction.
The Tecvayli-Darzalex regimen received an ultra-speedy approval from the FDA in March under the agency’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher pilot program. The indication is in second-line multiple myeloma, the same earliest use allowed on Carvykti’s current label.
Following the second-line approval in March, Tecvayli sales in the U.S. jumped 64% year over year to $186 million in the second quarter, as Taubert highlighted continued market penetration in the community setting.
The phase 3 MajesTEC-3 data showed the pairing delivered an 83% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared with standard regimens, including Darzalex and dexamethasone with either Bristol Myers Squibb’s Pomalyst or Takeda’s Velcade. When the results were shared at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting on Dec. 9, Legend’s stock price tanked about 9% and declined further the following week.
While the magnitude of benefit was impressive, the sales potential for this regimen in the second-line setting may be limited. In most developed markets, Darzalex has become the standard first-line treatment. As only 5% of patients in MajesTEC-3 had prior exposure to Darzalex, some physicians might be hesitant to reuse the CD38 antibody in those pretreated patients, Leerink Partners analysts wrote in a December 2025 note.
J&J could fill that gap with the phase 3 MonumenTAL-6 trial for its GPRC5D-targeted T-cell engager Talvey in different combinations—including one with Tecvayli—in second-line, CD38-exposed multiple myeloma. Nevertheless, given that Talvey is known to work in patients who have failed on a BCMA-targeted agent like Carvykti and Tecvayli, doctors might want to reserve that option for later-line treatments.
Besides, while difficult to manufacture, Carvykti offers a one-time treatment, versus chronic treatment with the Tecvayli regimen.
However, Taubert’s expressed confidence in Tecvayli again put question marks in the head of Legend investors, compounding concerns that they are already fielding with the potential upcoming launch of Gilead Sciences’ rival CAR-T antio-cel toward the end of the year.
Down the line, Carvykti and Tecvayli could collide again in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. J&J’s MajesTEC-4 and MajesTEC-7 phase 3 trials are evaluating Tecvayli in the first-line setting.
Beyond commercial and clinical battles, geopolitical headwinds could further add to Legend investors’ headaches. Some lawmakers are ramping up scrutiny over foreign ownership in the American drug supply chain.
In a written testimony to a Senate Aging Committee hearing that coincided with J&J’s earnings report on July 15, Stephen Ezell, from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, flagged Legend and its former parent, Genscript, as a prominent case of what he called “Chinese false flagging,” in which firms with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or its army use U.S. entities to allegedly obfuscate those relationships.
Previously, in the process of advancing the Biosecure Act, the House’s Select Committee on China had requested an intelligence briefing on Genscript with the administrative branch. Following that episode, Legend shed Genscript as its majority shareholder in 2024, but the latter still holds a significant stake in the Carvykti maker.