What is Moderna’s new cancer vaccine and how big a breakthrough is it?
Moderna and Merck have reported successful trial results for a personalized cancer vaccine that targets specific mutations in melanoma patients. The mRNA-based treatment aims to prevent disease recurrence and is currently being studied for various other tumor types.
Why it matters
This represents a significant advancement in oncology, potentially validating mRNA technology as a versatile platform for personalized cancer immunotherapy.
Merck and Moderna’s success with a personalised cancer vaccine designed to keep melanoma at bay opens a new avenue of treatment that doctors hope will work against many types of tumours.
Unlike chemotherapy, which kills both healthy and cancerous cells, or immunotherapy, which revs up the immune system, personalised cancer vaccines train the immune system to specifically target mutations found only on a person’s tumour.
Moderna and Merck, known as MSD outside of the US and Canada, said on Wednesday their vaccine helped prevent the return and spread of disease in a large trial involving more than 1,000 melanoma patients.
They had localised tumours that were removed surgically, but had a high risk of recurrence. Moderna expects that thousands of melanoma patients could benefit within the first few years of approval.
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