Moderna's Vaccine Breakthrough Sends Stocks Soaring
Moderna's stock surged by over 176% on Wednesday after the company announced positive late-stage trial results for its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, Intismeran. When combined with Merck's Keytruda, the treatment met its primary goal of reducing cancer recurrence and its secondary goal of preventing cancer spread in patients with high-risk stage IIB to stage IV melanoma.
The phase-three trial involved 1,137 patients, and interim results showed that the personalized mRNA vaccine was effective in training the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells carrying specific mutations. Professor Georgina Long, the study's principal investigator, called the results 'a landmark moment for adjuvant melanoma treatment.'
Analysts at Barclays expect the melanoma treatment could eventually generate around $3 billion in annual sales by 2035.
In other news, Marvell Technology stock gained 9% after the company expanded its relationship with Google amid growing demand for custom AI chips. The partnership covers AI inference accelerators, storage controllers, network interface controllers, memory interface controllers, and near-memory compute products.
Bitcoin climbed above $68,000 for the first time since June, supported by lower Treasury yields and renewed accumulation by large holders. Large Bitcoin holders have accumulated about 43,000 tokens over the past 60 days, worth roughly $2.75 billion at current prices.
Gold prices surged 4% to $4,509.54 an ounce, their highest level since June 4, following the Treasury's decision to double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated bonds.