Moderna and Merck announce progress on joint skin cancer vaccine

Dec. 13, 2022 — Moderna and Merck jointly announced progress Tuesday on a drug combination to fight the recurrence of melanoma, a deadly skin cancer.

The potential vaccine is formed by combining messenger RNA (mRNA) technology – common in coronavirus vaccines – and Merck’s cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda, the companies said.

Patients in one trial who received the combination had a 44% lower risk of recurrence or death than those who received only Keytruda.

“Today’s results are very encouraging for the field of cancer treatment. mRNA has been transformative for COVID-19, and now, for the very first time, we have demonstrated the potential of mRNA to impact outcomes in a randomized clinical trial in melanoma,” said Stéphane Bancel. , CEO of Moderna, in a Press release.

Moderna has developed one of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines.

“The study is the first randomized trial to show that combining mRNA vaccine technology with a drug that boosts the immune response would provide a better outcome for melanoma patients and potentially for other cancers,” Reuters reported,

The Wall Street Journal said the companies will conduct a larger study through next year, further bolstering the safety and effectiveness of the combination. “The positive results of this study could pave the way for possible regulatory approval of Moderna’s investigational cancer vaccine,” said the Log wrote.

Moderna and Merck also plan to test the combination in other types of cancers.

“We will begin additional studies in melanoma and other forms of cancer with the goal of providing patients with truly individualized cancer treatments,” Bancel said. “We look forward to releasing the full data set and sharing the results at an upcoming oncology medical conference, as well as with health authorities.”

The new study followed 157 patients with stage III/IV melanoma. Their tumors were surgically removed before treatment with the combination or just Keytruda.