Another day, another about-face by the U.S. FDA on Uniqure NV’s Huntington’s disease gene therapy. But this latest shift brings good news for the company’s AMT-130, for which the FDA says three-year analysis data from the phase I/II study will be acceptable for an accelerated BLA filing, now expected to be submitted in the third quarter.
Liability remains one of the biggest barriers to the adoption of AI in healthcare. As more tools get developed for use in clinical settings, a key question persists: Who is ultimately at fault when something goes wrong – the hospital, the clinician or the developer? That uncertainty is making clinicians hesitant to adopt new technologies, delegates heard at the HLTH Europe conference in Amsterdam on June 16.
The EMA’s 2025 annual report highlights the pressure it is under to streamline and simplify assessment processes, and the expanded – and explicit – role the agency now has in boosting the competitive position of the EU in the development and manufacturing of drugs.
Treatment with first-generation CAR T cells regularly sent patients to the intensive care unit. Now, investigators are envisioning a future where CAR T treatment could occur on an outpatient basis.
Even though children make up a quarter of the population, healthcare technologies are not often designed with them in mind. Investment in pediatric innovation remains limited with investors often viewing returns in the space as less predictable. Nevertheless, a number of companies are looking to address this and are developing technologies for kids. Afterall, with huge investments going into longevity R&D, there is a compelling case for addressing health issues at the very early stage, delegates heard at the first annual Pediatric Innovation Summit, held as part of the HLTH Europe conference in Amsterdam on June 15.
Treatment with first-generation CAR T cells regularly sent patients to the intensive care unit. Now, investigators are envisioning a future where CAR T treatment could occur on an outpatient basis. At Sunday’s late-breaking oral session of the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA2026), Lei Fan told his audience that the first-in-human data “support further development of LB-2501 as a potential first-in-class, off-the-shelf, single infusion, no lymphodepletion, outpatient use CAR T therapy.” Fan is a professor of hematology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.
The industry is in support of the EU Biotech Act but says it needs to go further to restore Europe’s competitive position in biopharma. Instead of incremental adjustments, there should be wide-ranging change to create a system that supports the full lifecycle of drug development, from academic research and clinical development, to manufacturing and commercialization.
In a repeat move, the U.S. FDA issued yet again a complete response letter (CRL) to Camurus AB for its subcutaneous extended-release injection drug CAM-2029 (octreotide) to treat the rare chronic growth disorder acromegaly. The drug, which expects to be branded Oclaiz in the U.S. upon approval, is called Oczyesa in the EU and the U.K., where it received marketing authorization in 2025.
Dermasensor Inc. received CE mark approval for its handheld skin cancer detection device using spectroscopy and AI to test suspicious skin lesions for cancer in real time at the point of care. The device is designed to help qualified healthcare professionals decide whether suspicious skin lesions need further investigation. With skin cancer rates rising, the Dermasensor joins several other AI-based tools entering the European market to help with the analysis of suspicious lesions.
Two companies with European ties signed billion-dollar deals with large pharma firms in the last two days to discover and develop molecular glue drugs, as well as to advance a preclinical Alzheimer’s disease prospect. For both companies, the up-front payments are relatively small, only $10 million for Alzecure Pharma AB, and just $40 million for Orionis Biosciences Inc. But it’s the back-end milestone amounts that are headline-grabbing.