Studies into vaccinations for cancer and cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases are showing "tremendous promise," with the success of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines accelerating this technology.
As The Guardian explains, "therapies based on mRNA work by teaching cells how to make a protein that triggers the body's immune response against disease." An mRNA-based cancer vaccine, for example, would "alert the immune system to a cancer that is already growing in a patient's body, so it can attack and destroy it, without destroying healthy cells."
Dr. Paul Burton, chief medical officer of Moderna, told The Guardian he thinks his pharmaceutical company will offer treatments for "all sorts of disease areas" by 2030, and is developing cancer vaccines targeting multiple types of tumors. By offering personalized cancer vaccines, it will "save many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives," Burton said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In late 2022, Moderna announced a phase two clinical trial found the company's personalized mRNA cancer vaccine combined with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda reduced the recurrence of melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, by 44 percent. In February, the Food and Drug Administration gave this combination a Breakthrough Therapy Designation, which expedites the development and review of drugs meant to treat life-threatening conditions.
Vaccine studies now underway are showing "tremendous promise," Burton said, and he estimates that 10 years from now, "we will be approaching a world where you truly can identify the genetic cause of a disease and, with relative simplicity, go and edit that out and repair it using mRNA-based technology."
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Crossword: August 24, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
Bacteria can turn plastic waste into a painkillerUnder the radar The process could be a solution to plastic pollution
-
Scientists want to regrow human limbs. Salamanders could lead the way.Under the radar Humans may already have the genetic mechanism necessary
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
