CAR-T therapy-associated T-cell malignancies that the US FDA is investigating could make the treatments less attractive in autoimmune diseases than in oncology, but patients in both settings already accept some cancer risk with other available medicines.

Hopes are that the impact of the US FDA’s investigation into a small number of T-cell malignancies associated with CAR-T therapies will be small since the benefit/risk profile still looks sound.

The French biotech’s money concerns are over after a lucrative gene editing deal with AstraZeneca brings in an initial cash commitment of $245m and the possibility of many millions more.

ImmunoACT gets go-ahead in India for its CD19-targeted CAR-T cell therapy, which reported low toxicity and the absence of neurotoxicities in clinical trials. The product will come at a huge price differential compared to on-market therapies, offering new hope to several patients.