Merck and Moderna reported that a cancer therapy, manufactured individually for each patient using the mutational fingerprint of that patient's own tumor, met its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial. The companies said that intismeran autogene given alongside Keytruda after surgery produced a statistically significant improvement in recurrence-free survival compared with Keytruda alone in patients with stage IIB through stage IV cutaneous melanoma who had undergone complete resection.
The topline results were released by the Merck and Moderna newsrooms on the morning of August 19, 2026. The companies also reported a benefit in distant metastasis-free survival, a measure of the number of patients who developed distant metastases or died. Merck and Moderna described the readout as the first positive Phase 3 result for an individualized neoantigen therapy and for an mRNA-based cancer therapy.
