Phase 3 Trial Boosts Hopes For Personalised mRNA Cancer Vaccines
What Happened
A personalised mRNA cancer vaccine from Moderna and Merck, combined with Keytruda, reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 42% versus Keytruda alone in a Phase 3 trial involving more than 1,100 patients. It also reduced the risk of distant cancer spread or death by 38%. The vaccine, intismeran autogene, is individually designed using mutations found in each patient's tumour. At two years, 82.2% of combination-treated patients remained alive without recurrence, versus 70% with Keytruda alone.
Key Takeaways
The results provide the first positive Phase 3 evidence for an individualised mRNA cancer therapy, potentially opening a new approach to treating melanoma after surgery. Moderna and Merck are preparing regulatory submissions.