American pharmaceutical companies Merck and Moderna announced on Wednesday encouraging results from the trial of an experimental melanoma vaccine that may support its approval.
The vaccine, named intismeran autogene, demonstrated 'statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements' in patients with skin cancer when used in combination with Merck's Keytruda treatment, as stated by the companies in an official announcement.
Unlike traditional vaccines, therapeutic vaccines such as intismeran are aimed not at preventing disease, but at treating it, teaching the body's own immune system to fight tumors or other pathogens.
The companies noted that this is the first positive Phase 3 result for individualized neoantigen therapy (INT) and for mRNA-based anti-cancer therapy. They referenced matrix RNA technology, which previously proved highly effective against severe forms of Covid-19.
Specific details of the study results were not disclosed, nor was it indicated when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might consider approving this vaccine.
Both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency have fast-tracked this therapy for review. Melanoma is considered one of the most dangerous forms of skin cancer; over 330,000 new cases of the disease were diagnosed worldwide in 2022.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel stated in the announcement: 'For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA therapy specifically designed for a patient's cancer was just a dream. Now we are helping to make that vision a reality.'
Before its official opening on the New York Stock Exchange, Moderna shares rose by approximately 65 percent.
