Moderna Cancer Vaccine Meets Key Trial Goals, Stock Soars
Moderna's stock price surged by nearly 100% to $120 in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company announced that its mRNA-based cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene (also known as V940 or mRNA-4157), had met its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial.
Merck and Moderna partnered to test the combination of Keytruda, Merck's blockbuster checkpoint inhibitor, with the investigational personalized mRNA cancer vaccine in patients with melanoma. The Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial involved 1,137 patients who were randomly assigned a 2:1 ratio to receive either the combination therapy or single-agent Keytruda for approximately one year after surgical removal of cutaneous melanoma.
The study found that patients receiving the combination therapy achieved improved outcomes in terms of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and distant metastasis, free survival, meeting both primary and secondary endpoints. While specific data has not been released, Merck and Moderna plan to use these results to inform regulatory discussions for approval filings.
Analysts at William Blair have upgraded their recommendation on Moderna's stock to Outperform from Market Perform, citing the company's clear line of sight to revenue diversification beyond its COVID-19 business. The success of intismeran autogene in this trial has also been seen as a positive sign for ongoing studies in other cancer types.
David Berman, chief development officer at Moderna, expressed confidence in the potential of intismeran to work across various indications, including bladder cancer where checkpoint inhibitors have shown efficacy. However, he noted that the 'big question' is whether it can also succeed in cases where checkpoint inhibitors have failed.