A personalized cancer vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck has delivered a major breakthrough in melanoma, raising hopes that the same approach could eventually be used against a much wider range of cancers.
The treatment, known as intismeran autogene, is designed individually for each patient using mutations found in their tumor. Combined with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda, it significantly reduced the risk of melanoma returning or spreading in a Phase 3 study of 1,137 patients whose tumors had been surgically removed but who remained at high risk of recurrence. The companies said the study met its main goals of improving recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival, with no new safety concerns identified.
