A New Personalized Cancer Vaccine Could Keep Skin Cancer From Coming Back, Drugmakers Say

A personalized cancer vaccine, called intismeran, demonstrated in a recent clinical trial the ability to prevent the recurrence and spread of melanoma when combined with existing treatment, according to Moderna and Merck, the companies behind the drug. The vaccine, developed using mRNA technology similar to that used in Covid-19 vaccines, is tailored to each patient's specific cancer mutations.

In the trial, 1,137 patients who had undergone surgery for advanced melanoma received either intismeran in addition to the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, or pembrolizumab alone. The results showed that those who received both intismeran and pembrolizumab had a longer cancer-free period and fewer new lesions than those who received pembrolizumab alone.

The companies plan to present the findings at an upcoming medical conference and to regulatory authorities. Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, causes around 8,510 deaths in the United States annually. While early detection greatly improves survival rates, advanced melanoma can be challenging to treat. The success of this personalized vaccine trial, which only included melanoma patients, suggests that similar approaches could be applied to other cancers and rare genetic disorders in the future.