Moderna Shares Soar After Breakthrough Melanoma Vaccine Results

Moderna's shares surged as much as 160% after the company announced that its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence and spread in a late-stage trial. The treatment, Intismeran, was tested together with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda, which is widely used to treat melanoma.

The companies are already in talks with regulators about bringing the vaccine to market as soon as next year, according to Moderna President Stephen Hoge. This could be a major breakthrough in cancer treatment, and Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, called it an 'auspicious start'.

The trial enrolled 1,137 high-risk patients with stage IIB-IV melanoma that had been surgically removed. Volunteers were randomized to receive up to nine doses of Keytruda plus the personalized vaccine or Keytruda alone for about one year. The companies said no new safety signals have emerged in the trial.

The results could also signal a reversal of fortune for Moderna, which has struggled to generate new products beyond its COVID-19 vaccine and faced pushback over its mRNA technology from President Donald Trump's administration.