Moderna's mRNA Cancer Vaccine Offers Rare Hope in Decades-Long 'War'
A half-century-old 'war' on cancer may finally be yielding results.
On December 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon declared a 'war on cancer,' signing the National Cancer Act of 1971, which committed $12 billion over three years to expand the National Cancer Institute and create new research centers.
The US government has since spent an estimated $200-$300 billion in research, while total national expenditures on overall cancer care have reached trillions of dollars. Despite early detection, better treatments, and a decline in smoking-related deaths, approximately 30 million Americans have died from the disease over the past 55 years.
The tide may be turning with the joint announcement by pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck, which revealed that Moderna's targeted mRNA cancer vaccine, combined with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda, significantly slows melanoma recurrence and prevents its spread to other parts of the body.