GenScript Biotech

GenScript Biotech, fully known as GenScript Biotech Corporation, usually referred to as simply GenScript, is a New Jersey-based biotech company. It was co-founded in 2002 in New Jersey by Fangliang Zhang, Ye Wang, and Luquan Wang. The company mainly provides life science research application instruments and services. It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2015. The current rotating CEO of the firm is Shao Weihui, who also served as the chief operating officer and Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary for the company. The company's main subsidiaries include Legend Biotech, ProBio Technology, and Bestzyme.

Outside of the United States, GenScript has established presences in China, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, among others. The company's operations are divided into four main segments, CDMO platform, life-science services and products platform, integrated cell therapy platform, and industrial synthetic products platform. In September 2021, the firm and its subsidiary Probio received series A funding from Hillhouse Capital.

History
GenScript was formed in 2002 in New Jersey. In 2004, it set up a research and production base in Nanjing, China. In 2009, the company secured a $15 million investment from KPCB China Fund.

In 2011, the company opened a subsidiary in Japan. In 2013, it established Bestzyme. In the following year, another subsidiary of the firm, Legend Biotech, was founded. In 2015, GenScript went public on the SEHK.

In 2017, the Chinese government accepted Nanjing Legend's application for running clinical trials for its blood cancer treatment, with its IND application approved by the CFDA. In the same year, Legend Biotech USA Inc. and Legend Biotech Ireland Limited, non-wholly owned subsidiaries of GenScript, entered into a collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech to share CAR-T treatments in the US and China. Subsequently, GenScript fully acquired CustomArray.

In 2020, its subsidiary Probio was launched. In the same year, Genscript collaborated with Duke-NUS Medical School to develop and manufacture a serology test called cPass for the detection of COVID-19. On November 6, the cPass test received emergency use authorization from the US FDA. Prior to that, Legend Biotech was listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol "LEGN".

In 2022, Carvykti, a CAR-T cell therapy developed by Janssen Biotech and Legend Biotech, was approved by the US FDA for the treatment of multiple myeloma in adult patients. In the same year, it opened a protein and gene manufacturing facility in Singapore.

In November 2023, Legend Biotech and Novartis signed an out-license deal to develop and manufacture Legend's chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) therapies, that go after delta-like ligand protein 3 (DLL3) including large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma candidate LB2102. Novartis will pay the New-Jersey-based biotech $100 million upfront, and Legend Biotech will be eligible to receive up to $1.01 billion in clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments and tiered royalties.

In May 2024, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Director of National Intelligence for a briefing on whether the Chinese government has any undue influence over GenScript and three of its subsidiaries (Bestzyme, Legend Biotech, and ProBio). GenScript's stock fell on the news.