Merck and Moderna's Customized Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Phase 3 Trials

Pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co and Moderna have developed an investigational cancer vaccine that's tailored to each patient's tumor. The new therapy, called intismeran autogene, uses the patient's own genome to create a personalized mRNA construct that trains their immune system to recognize the cancer as foreign.

The combination treatment involves giving patients Merck's Keytruda, a monoclonal antibody that targets the PD-1 receptor on T-cells, alongside the intismeran autogene vaccine. The FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for this combination in 2023.

Jane Healy, vice president and head of Oncology Early Clinical Development at Merck & Co, explained that giving Keytruda with the cancer vaccine trains the immune cells to recognize their own cancer as foreign, allowing them to better attack the cancer present in their body. The therapy is given as an injection every three weeks for up to nine doses.