Moderna Shares Skyrocket on Promising Cancer Treatment Results

Moderna shares surged more than 120% to $140.12 after it announced initial results from a study of an experimental mRNA cancer treatment in partnership with Merck.

The treatment, called intismeran, is an mRNA-based cancer vaccine designed to be tailored to individual patients based on unique mutations within their tumors.

Moderna and Merck are pairing this treatment with Keytruda, a immunotherapy drug made by Merck, in the current studies. The study compared using intismeran and Keytruda together on melanoma patients against using Keytruda alone.

The results showed that patients who received the combination of intismeran and Keytruda lived longer without cancer returning or metastasizing than those who got Keytruda alone, but the companies did not provide further details on survival rates or overall patient outcomes.