Moderna's Melanoma Vaccine Clears Late-Stage Trial in Big Win

Moderna's shares skyrocketed over 100% on Wednesday after the company and Merck announced their personalized cancer vaccine had cleared a late-stage melanoma trial when paired with Keytruda. The Phase 3 win is a significant milestone for Moderna, which has been struggling to prove its mRNA platform has another large market to chase beyond COVID-19 vaccines.

The trial, INTerpath-001, tested intismeran autogene (formerly mRNA-4157 or V940) in combination with Keytruda in patients with resected high-risk stage II-IV melanoma. The results showed a significant improvement in recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared to Keytruda alone.

Moderna's full-year 2025 revenue was $1.9 billion, down 40% from 2024, with most of the revenue still coming from COVID vaccines. The company has been trying to prove its worth beyond COVID-19, and this result provides a much-needed boost.