Moderna Expands mRNA Technology Beyond COVID-19 Vaccines to Cancer and Rare Diseases
Moderna Korea's vice president Kim Hee-soo explained how mRNA technology is expanding beyond COVID-19 vaccines to treat cancer and rare diseases. Recently, a personalized mRNA vaccine for melanoma developed by Moderna and Merck (MSD) in the US passed phase 3 clinical trials.
This technology uses fast development speed and flexible design to create individual treatments tailored to mutations in different cancer cells for each patient. Intismeran autogen finds characteristic mutations in the patient's tumor tissue and designs treatments for each patient, inducing a patient-specific immune response by presenting a 'target list' so that T cells can recognize the characteristics of cancer cells.
The goal is to shorten the time it takes to secure tumor tissue and administer the actual treatment. Currently, it takes 6-8 weeks from securing tumor tissue to analysis, treatment design and manufacturing, and quality inspection to first administration. In personalized treatment, manufacturing speed is very important, Vice President Kim said.
Moderna is also developing cancer treatments that target antigens commonly found in cancer in several patients. The representative candidate 'mRNA-4359' induces T-cell immune responses to cancer cells and immunosuppressed cells, and phase 2 clinical trials with melanoma are currently underway. Additionally, the company is studying next-generation cell therapy technology that uses mRNA to change the function of immune cells in the body.