UniQure NV has concluded an investigation of a patient who had a preliminary diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) whilst participating in the gene therapy trial HOPE-B for haemophilia. In a statement issued on 29 March, the company said “it is highly unlikely the HCC was caused by etranacogene dezaparvovec.” The company has shared the data with the US Food and Drug Administration, which put a clinical hold on the trial in December 2020.

Medigene AG has reported the discovery of novel immunogenic tumour specific antigens derived from the non-coding regions of the human genome. The German biotech company presented the finding at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on 10 April.