Moderna and Merck's Cancer Therapy Shows Promising Results

Healthcare stocks were trending after hours on Wednesday following positive Phase 3 trial results announced by Moderna and Merck. The two companies have jointly developed intismeran autogene, an individualized mRNA-based cancer therapy, since 2016.

The INTerpath-001 trial evaluated the combination of intismeran and KEYTRUDA in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma. The results showed a significant improvement in recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared to KEYTRUDA alone.

Moderna's stock cooled off after its intraday gain of 176.97% to $174.38, falling 4.65% to $166.26 in after-hours trading. Merck also dropped 0.46% to $151.50 following a 12.60% surge to $152.20.

BioNTech and Tempus AI Inc. also saw their stocks dip after hours, while Crispr Therapeutics AG fell slightly. Pfizer's stock was relatively muted due to its indirect exposure to the news.