On April 1, the domestic cell therapy company Legendary Biologics (NASDAQ: LEGN) officially released a personnel change announcement, appointing Dr. Fang Guowei as the senior vice president of Legendary Biology and the global head of research and early development, and will officially take over dr. Fan Xiaohu, who left Legendary Biology on March 30, 2022.
(Source: Legendary Creatures official website)
The official press release pointed out that Fang Guowei has rich experience in research and development in the field of oncology and immunology. Prior to joining Legendary Biologics, Mr. Fang served as Senior Vice President of R&D at Zymeworks, where he was responsible for the development of new technology platforms, versatile biologics, and antibody drug conjugate assemblies, and as Head of R&D at Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie company, where he was responsible for discovery and early development.
After joining Legendary Biologics, Fang Guowei will be responsible for guiding Legendary Biologics' research and development efforts in China, the United States, Ireland, and promoting multiple product pipelines for hematological tumors and solid tumors.
Figure | Legendary Creatures section leadership team (Source: Legendary Creatures official website)
At present, the official website of Legendary Bio has updated the latest leadership team, and there is no introduction of Fan Xiaohu in the official website team introduction.
"Dr. Fan Xiaohu's pioneering work has helped us advance the development of key product candidates, and we sincerely thank him for his contribution to the legend." Legendary Bio CEO Dr. Ying Huang said.
He has built a cell therapy platform from "0-1"
Prior to leaving, Fan Xiaohu was the CSO of Legendary Biotech, responsible for the early research and development of the company's product pipeline. He joined Kingsway Group in 2014 to take charge of antibody protein engineering business, and in 2015 joined Legendary Biology, and is a key figure and hero in the development of Legendary Biology.
At that time, he led the team to communicate with clinicians, develop R&D strategies, and build a cell therapy platform from 0-1. He also led the development of the star product-targeted BCMA CAR-T therapy, Cilta-cel (CARVYKTI), and based on early data from the therapy in 2017, Legendary Bio and Johnson & Johnson reached a global cooperation and licensing agreement to jointly promote the clinical development and commercialization of BCMA CAR-T, which set a record for the largest down payment for foreign patent licensing and the optimal conditions for cooperation among Chinese pharmaceutical companies.
Fan Xiaohu admitted in an interview with Shenghui last year that eight years ago, there were only a few people in the legendary creatures, the laboratory was rebuilt from the warehouse, and the equipment was shared with other departments. (Click here to review: Interview with the legendary creature Fan Xiaohu: Tackling solid tumors, developing universal therapies, and fundamentally improving the accessibility of cell therapies)
With the brilliant performance of Sidaki Olense, in 2020, Legendary Bio successfully landed on the NASDAQ and became the "first stock of China's CAR-T", with a market value of nearly $4.8 billion.
It is worth mentioning that the latest clinical data show that the objective response rate of Sidakiolarons is 98%, and the complete response rate in the strict sense is 83%. On February 28 of this year, Sidakiola was officially approved by the FDA for the treatment of relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM) in adults. It is reported that this is the first Original Chinese CAR-T Therapy approved for marketing in the United States, and it is also the first CAR-T therapy that has successfully "gone to sea". Previously, the company had submitted a marketing application to Japan for the treatment of r/r MM with positive advice from the European Medicines Agency.
As Siddha Kiorensa entered the commercialization phase, Fan Xiaohu also led the team to develop a series of early-stage project development strategies. On October 18, 2021, he detailed the company's early projects and future R&D priorities at legendary bio-R&D day. He simply summarized the R&D strategy as follows: tackling solid tumors as the main line, developing general-purpose products, laying out next-generation technologies, and thus improving drug accessibility.
It is reported that Legendary Biology has laid out emerging cell therapies such as CAR-NK and developed a technology platform based on independent intellectual property rights.
"We will continue to focus on cell therapy in the future"
At present, legendary bio has more than 1,000 employees worldwide, with a market value of about $5.2 billion, and Siddha Kiolensay has been approved by the FDA for marketing and received positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency. A month after Siddaki Ollensay was approved, Fan Xiaohu chose to leave the legendary creature.
As soon as the news came out, there was an uproar.
Fan Xiaohu mentioned in an interview with Fierce Biotech that the next stop has not yet been determined. "It's a tough decision, and no company founder is really willing to leave the company they founded at this important moment."
On the other hand, Fan Xiaohu's next choice has also become a major focus in the field.
"I'll take a break and then start over, and I'll still focus on cell therapy in the future." He wrote in an email to foreign media outlet Fierce Biotech. Previously, he also said in an interview with Shenghui that he has always wanted to do gene and cell therapy research and development.
Figure | Dr. Fan Xiaohu (Source: Interview)
As for the specific plan, we have no way of knowing, but it seems that we can glimpse a glimpse of it from previous cases.
Previously, Wang Liqun, the former CEO of Fosun Kate, chose to start from scratch and founded Xingyi Ang Biotech, a company focused on the development of general-purpose CAR-NK cell therapy, which received its first round of financing less than 3 months after its establishment. He has led the technology implementation, clinical trials, construction of production facilities and market applications for Fosun Kate CAR-T Therapy Agilensa Injection. In more than three years, Aguilensay injection was officially approved for listing, becoming the first listed cell therapy product in China.
Reference Links:
https://legendbiotech.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Legend-Biotech-Announces-Appointment-of-Global-Head-of-Research-and-Early-Development_FINAL.pdf
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