Moderna's Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Late-Stage Trial, Shares Soar 90%

Moderna's shares skyrocketed up to 90% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company announced that its mRNA cancer vaccine, developed in partnership with Merck, succeeded in a large late-stage clinical trial for melanoma.

The Phase 3 trial, known as INTerpath-001, tested the treatment combination of intismeran autogene and Keytruda in patients with completely surgically removed stage IIB-IV melanoma. The study enrolled 1,137 high-risk patients who received up to nine doses of the combination therapy over roughly one year.

The trial met its primary goal of significantly extending the time patients lived without their melanoma returning, compared with Keytruda alone, and also achieved a key secondary goal of reducing the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body. The results were described as 'very exciting' by Dr. Jane Healy, Merck's head of oncology early development.

Moderna has said it has successfully automated the personalized manufacturing process required to produce each patient-specific dose. Wednesday's data builds on earlier, smaller-scale results from a mid-stage trial of the same treatment combination, which found that at 60.3 months of follow-up, the combination therapy reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 49%, while reducing the risk of distant metastasis or death by 59%.