Merck and Moderna Partner on Personalized Cancer Therapies Using Neoantigens

Cancer research is evolving to focus on individualized treatments that take into account each patient's unique genetic makeup.

Merk and Moderna are collaborating to develop an innovative approach using individualized neoantigen therapies (INTs), which train the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells specific to each person.

Every tumor has a distinct 'fingerprint' made up of mutated genes resulting in abnormal proteins, called neoantigens. INTs use mRNA as an instruction-carrying molecule to help activate the patient's immune cells against those cancer cells.

Researchers are currently conducting studies to better understand how INTs may help train the body's immune system, with no U.S. FDA-approved individualized neoantigen therapies available yet.