The trial is aimed at using an mRNA vaccine to stimulate an additional immune response when combined with a Merck drugModerna’s experimental personalised cancer vaccine reduced the risk of relapse or death from melanoma when combined with a Merck drug in a mid-stage trial, a key step in expanding the use of messenger RNA technology beyond Covid-19 prevention.
The results provide the first real evidence of benefit for an mRNA cancer therapy, but the results of the study also suggest “a limited number of events or lack of effect in a subgroup of patients,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli wrote. To make the vaccine, Moderna takes a biopsy of a tumour, isolates some of the proteins and integrates them into a vaccine that teaches the immune system to recognise those markers. That helps the body fight the cancer if or when it returns.Researchers have been working on personalised cancer vaccines for decades with only limited success, not least because they’re hard to manufacture on a large scale.
Moderna believes it now has enough data to test its vaccine in other types of cancers, CEO Stéphane Bancel said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.