As Legend’s LB2102 trial in SCLC fails to dazzle, co-developer Novartis banks on quick manufacturing to find a commercial edge.
Novartis hopes to leverage fast CAR-T production through its T-Charge platform to position LB2102 against Amgen’s leader Imdelltra. Credit: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock.com
Legend Biotech presented preliminary results from its ongoing Phase I/II trial of LB2102 (NCT05680922), an armoured delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3)-targeted autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, in patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) small cell lung cancer (SCLC) or large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2026 Annual Meeting, held May 29–June 2, 2026. In the second-line setting, the current standard of care for extensive-stage (ES)-SCLC is Amgen’s Imdelltra (tarlatamab), a DLL3- and CD3-targeting bispecific T-cell engager. Legend Biotech has a more expansive inclusion criteria than Imdelltra’s pivotal DeLLphi-304 trial (NCT05740566) and included LCNEC patients alongside those with ES-SCLC. Patients who had previously received Imdelltra were ineligible. Novartis licensed this therapy from Legend Biotech and is expected to run a separate development program focusing on ES-SCLC patients, potentially enrolling patients with prior Imdelltra exposure.
