Moderna Surges on Melanoma Vaccine Breakthrough
Moderna's stock surged by 120% at market open on August 19 after successful late-stage trial results for its personalized melanoma vaccine, intismeran. The company developed this vaccine in collaboration with Merck (MRK). In the study, intismeran was used in combination with Keytruda, another drug from Merck.
The personalized vaccine is created individually for each patient after surgery. Specialists analyze blood and tumor tissue samples to identify mutations characteristic of cancer cells, and a vaccine is produced that helps the immune system recognize and attack the tumor. The manufacturing process takes about six weeks.
Moderna expects investor interest in its shares to remain strong due to the company's entry into the oncology drug market, valued at over $240 billion. Conservative estimates suggest melanoma therapy could generate around $3 billion in annual revenue for Moderna by 2035. The technology could also be used for other cancers.
A significant risk factor is the complexity of producing personalized vaccines, which makes their production more complex and costly compared to mass-produced medicines.