Merck & Moderna Cancer Vaccine Delivers Promising Results in Late-Stage Trial

A cancer vaccine is finally showing promise in clinical trials. Merck & Co. and Moderna Inc.'s personalized mRNA-based vaccine, intismeran, has been tested on patients with melanoma in a large late-stage trial.

The study found that combining the vaccine with Keytruda, an immunotherapy treatment, helped to keep melanoma from returning or spreading. This is significant because it shows that mRNA technology can be effective in cancer treatment beyond infectious diseases.

Martina Nielsen, chief of the division of medical oncology at the University Hospital of Zurich, said: 'The concept of cancer vaccines has been kicked around for over a century, and in the past 20 years, we've seen countless hopeful headlines about promising early-stage treatments.' She noted that coaxing the body into fighting its own battles turned out to be a lot harder than it sounds.

The results are impressive: in June, Merck and Moderna reported that intismeran plus Keytruda lowered the chance of melanoma returning or metastasizing by 49% compared with Keytruda alone. The companies plan to share the full data from the study at an upcoming medical meeting or in a journal.