Moderna says skin cancer vaccine trial a success

An employee works in a lab focused on cancer vaccine research at the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. — An employee works in a lab focused on cancer vaccine research at the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts

(Image credit: Adam Glanzman / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What happened

Moderna and Merck said Wednesday their experimental mRNA cancer vaccine successfully reduced recurrence of melanoma, and prevented the deadly skin cancer from spreading to other organs, in a large trial. The results “mark the first successful late-stage trial for a personalized mRNA cancer therapy,” The Wall Street Journal said, “validating decades of research” and “paving the way for a potentially new life-extending treatment” for people diagnosed with melanoma and other cancers.

The ongoing study involves 1,137 high-risk melanoma patients whose cancer was surgically removed and genetically sequenced. The treatment combines Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda with intismeran, a “made-to-order mRNA vaccine” created by analyzing and weaponizing “mutations found in the patients’ own tumors,” CNN said. The companies didn’t detail the results, but an earlier mid-stage trial showed that pairing intismeran with Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% versus Keytruda alone. Moderna’s stock closed up 177% Wednesday.