Legend Biotech Announces Chief Executive Officer Transition
August 02 2020 - 10:02AM
Business Wire
Legend Biotech Corporation (NASDAQ: LEGN) (Legend Biotech), a
global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the
discovery and development of novel cell therapies for oncology and
other indications, today announced that its Board of Directors has
appointed Dr. Frank Zhang to serve as Chief Executive Officer,
effective immediately.
Dr. Zhang will succeed Dr. Yuan Xu, who has resigned from her
position as Chief Executive Officer for personal reasons. Dr. Xu
has also resigned from the Board of Directors of Legend
Biotech.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors and myself, I want to thank
Dr. Xu for her service and the contribution she has made to the
Board of Directors and Legend Biotech during her tenure. We wish
her continued success in her future endeavors,” said Dr. Zhang,
“Legend Biotech’s strategic partner Janssen Biotech, Inc. expects
to initiate the BLA filing for our lead cell therapy product
JNJ-4528 to the U.S. FDA by the end of 2020 and also expects that a
marketing authorization application will be submitted to the
European Medicines Agency in early 2021. Legend has a robust
pipeline of promising cell therapies entering various stages of
clinical development. We are confident that we can continue to help
patients in need and create shareholder value by leveraging our
strong R&D capabilities.”
In addition to his new role as Chief Executive Officer, Dr.
Zhang will continue to serve as Chairman of Legend Biotech’s Board
of Directors. Dr. Zhang has concurrently stepped down as Chief
Executive Officer of GenScript, Legend Biotech’s majority
shareholder, in order to focus his attention on Legend Biotech.
Dr. Zhang has served as the Chairman of Board of Directors of
Legend Biotech since May 2015. Dr. Zhang has been the chairman, an
executive director and chief executive officer of GenScript since
2015. He co-founded the GenScript group in 2002 and has been the
director of various group companies prior to GenScript becoming the
holding company of the group companies pursuant to the corporate
reorganization for GenScript’s initial public offering in 2015. In
2015, Dr. Zhang founded Legend Biotech as a subsidiary of
GenScript, expanding GenScript’s business goal to research,
manufacture and commercialize a broad range of immunotherapy
treatments. In 2018, Dr. Zhang was awarded Person of the Year at
the China Healthcare Summit in recognition of his contribution to
and significant impact on the healthcare field. Dr. Zhang has also
authored more than 20 articles published in peer-reviewed journals
and is an inventor of 9 scientific patents. Before founding
GenScript, Dr. Zhang worked as a Principal Scientist at
Schering-Plough from 1995 to 2002 where he received its
Presidential Award. Dr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from
Duke University, a Master’s degree from Nanjing University and a
Bachelor’s degree from Chengdu Institute of Geology.
Conference Call
Legend Biotech will host a conference call on Sunday, August 2,
2020 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss the management
transition. The conference call will be broadcast live by webcast
at: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/4intson9
Following the conference call, a recording of the call will be
available for replay via the investor relations section of Legend
Biotech’s website:
https://investors.legendbiotech.com/investor-relations
About Legend Biotech
Legend Biotech is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company engaged in the discovery and development of novel cell
therapies for oncology and other indications. Our team of over 700
employees across the United States, China and Europe, along with
our differentiated technology, global development, and
manufacturing strategies and expertise, provide us with the strong
potential to discover, develop, and manufacture best-in-class cell
therapies for patients in need.
We are engaged in a strategic collaboration with Janssen Biotech
to develop and commercialize our lead product candidate,
LCAR-B38M/JNJ-68284528, an investigational BCMA-targeted CAR-T cell
therapy for patients living with multiple myeloma. This candidate
is currently being studied in registrational clinical trials.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release about future expectations,
plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding
matters that are not historical facts, may constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include,
but are not limited to, statements relating to Legend Biotech’s
strategies and objectives, and the potential contribution of Dr.
Zhang as Chief Executive Officer and the anticipated timing of
regulatory submissions to the FDA and EMA. The words “anticipate,”
“believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,”
“may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,”
“target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual
results may differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements as a result of various important
factors, including the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors”
section of the preliminary prospectus filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements contained in
this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Legend
Biotech specifically disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Readers should not rely upon the
information on this page as current or accurate after its
publication date.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200802005022/en/
Media and Investor Relations: Jessie Yeung, Head of Corporate
Finance and Investor Relations, Legend Biotech
jessie.yeung@legendbiotech.com or investor@legendbiotech.com
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