Moderna Shares Skyrocket on Positive Cancer Treatment Results

Moderna's shares surged on Wednesday after it announced initial results from a study of an experimental cancer treatment called intismeran. The mRNA-based vaccine is designed to be tailored to individual patients based on unique mutations within their tumors.

Moderna and Merck are developing the treatment, which pairs intismeran with Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug made by Merck. The study compared using intismeran and Keytruda together on melanoma patients against using Keytruda alone.

The companies said patients who received the combination lived longer without cancer returning or metastasizing than patients who got Keytruda alone. However, they did not disclose how long patients survived without cancer returning or whether patients lived longer overall.