Shares of UniQure gained 9.1% in trading on Monday after the company said the Food and Drug Administration had lifted a clinical hold on the hemophilia B program for its experimental gene therapy. UniQure said it now expects to share top-line data from the clinical trial sometime this quarter. The regulator had implemented the hold in December after a patient in the trial was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, though later study of the individual found that the patient may have been predisposed to this type of carcinoma. All participants in the trial will continue to receive abdominal ultrasounds for at least six months. “We still view the official clearance from the agency as an important de-risking event for QURE shares,” Raymond James analyst Danielle Brill wrote in an investor note on Monday. UniQure’s stock is down 3.2% for the year, while the broader S&P 500 is up 11.3%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
