Merck and Moderna's Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising Results in Late-Stage Trial

A cancer vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna has shown promising results in late-stage testing. The experimental, personalized vaccine treated patients with melanoma who had high-risk or advanced skin cancer that was surgically removed.

The trial, which included over 1,137 participants, met its primary goals of recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival. This means the vaccine helped patients live without the return of melanoma and prevented it from spreading to other parts of their body.

'Today's results represent a landmark moment for adjuvant melanoma treatment,' said Professor Georgina Long, lead researcher for the study. 'This is the first Phase 3 study to show that intismeran, a treatment designed based on the unique mutational 'fingerprint' of a patient's own tumor, given in combination with pembrolizumab can reduce the risk of recurrence or death in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma compared to KEYTRUDA alone.'

The mRNA-based vaccine will continue under Phase 3 study. Merck and Moderna plan to present the data from the trial at an upcoming international medical meeting and to regulatory authorities.