(Yicai Global) May 19 -- The first China-made chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy approved overseas chalked up sales of USD72 million in the first quarter.

Sales of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel, or Cilta-cel for short, brought its developer Legend Biotech USD36.3 million of income in the three months ended March 31, the Nanjing-based company told Yicai Global.

In 2017, Legend Biotech and Belgian drugmaker Janssen Pharmaceutical penned a distribution agreement that entitles the Chinese firm to half of Cilta-cel’s revenues in the European Union, United States, and Japan.

Cilta-cel is Legend Biotech’s flagship product used in adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The drug is priced at USD465,000 in the US. Only seven CAR T-cell therapies have been granted marketing approval worldwide so far.

Cilta-cel was approved for marketing in the US at the end of February last year, Legend Biotech said to Yicai Global. Sales reached USD24 million in the second quarter of 2022, USD55 million in the third, and USD55 million in the fourth.

Editor: Futura Costaglione