Legend Biotech has appointed Ingrid Zhang as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective 15 September 2026, placing a veteran pharmaceutical executive at the helm as the company enters a new phase of growth.
Zhang joins Legend following 15 years at Novartis, where she most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer, International. She previously led Novartis China and its innovative medicines organisation. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at AstraZeneca and Pfizer and began her career in healthcare consulting at McKinsey & Company.
Her appointment follows a board-led search and comes after Alan Bash had served as interim CEO since July. Bash will return to his role as President of CARVYKTI, Legend’s flagship cell therapy.
From global pharmaceuticals to cell therapy
Zhang brings a career spanning commercial strategy, pharmaceutical operations and international market development.
At Novartis, she held a succession of leadership roles after joining the company in 2011. She served as President of Novartis Pharmaceuticals China from 2017 to 2022, President of China, Innovative Medicines from 2022 to 2023, and President and Managing Director of Novartis China from 2023 to 2024.
In June 2024, she became Chief Commercial Officer, International, where she was responsible for commercial launch strategy and expanding patient access to established medicines.
Her earlier experience includes six years at AstraZeneca, where she most recently served as Business Unit Head of Oncology and CNS, as well as management roles at Pfizer and McKinsey.
Zhang also serves on the board of Mettler-Toledo International and holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Lycoming College.
A company built around cell therapy
Legend Biotech is focused on cell therapy, with its commercial business centred on CARVYKTI, a CAR-T treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
The therapy is developed and marketed by Legend in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson. CARVYKTI generated approximately $1.9 billion in sales in 2025, according to Reuters, and about $1.25 billion during the first half of 2026.
Legend says it has more than 3,000 employees and is building an end-to-end cell therapy business around CARVYKTI while developing additional cell therapy approaches.
The company is also working on its pipeline beyond its current commercial product. Among its programmes is LB2501, an experimental in-vivo CAR-T therapy being developed for relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Unlike conventional CAR-T treatments, which require cells to be collected from a patient and manufactured before being returned to the body, an in-vivo approach aims to modify immune cells inside the patient’s body.
Legend reported clinical proof-of-concept for LB2501 in June 2026, adding another potential growth area to its cell therapy pipeline.
The commercial challenge
Zhang’s appointment comes at an important point in Legend’s development.
The company has already established a commercial product in CARVYKTI, but its next phase involves expanding patient access, developing its pipeline and building a broader cell therapy business.
That makes Zhang’s commercial background particularly relevant.
Her experience at Novartis included launching and expanding innovative medicines across international markets, while her leadership of the China business gave her experience managing a large and complex pharmaceutical operation.
At Legend, her remit will include advancing the company’s pipeline, expanding its impact and executing its long-term growth strategy.
The appointment also comes after an unexpected leadership transition. Ying Huang, who had led Legend for seven years, resigned as CEO in July. Bash subsequently served as interim CEO before Zhang’s appointment.
Looking beyond one therapy
For Legend, the longer-term opportunity lies in developing a portfolio rather than remaining dependent on a single commercial product.
CARVYKTI remains central to the business, but the company is developing additional cell therapy modalities and seeking to expand the reach of its existing treatment.
Zhang’s background across commercialisation, international markets and innovative medicines places her at the intersection of those priorities.
Her appointment therefore represents more than a leadership change. It marks a shift towards the next stage of Legend Biotech’s development, with the company seeking to combine its scientific capabilities with greater commercial scale.
For Zhang, the move represents a transition from one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to a specialist cell therapy business operating in one of the fastest-developing areas of modern medicine.
Her challenge will be to translate Legend’s scientific and commercial foundation into its next stage of growth while advancing treatments that could broaden the role of cell therapy in cancer care.
