Cancer Vaccine Cuts the Risk of Melanoma Recurrence, Merck and Moderna Report

A new personalized cancer vaccine, developed by Moderna and Merck, has shown promising results in reducing melanoma recurrence or death by 42% in a Phase 3 study involving over 1,130 patients. The vaccine, called intismeran, is custom-made based on each patient's genetically sequenced tumor and is administered alongside the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda.

The mRNA-based vaccine trains the immune system to recognize 34 specific proteins on tumor cells, similar to the approach used in Moderna's COVID vaccine. The results closely mirror those of an earlier Phase 2 study, suggesting that the treatment effect remains consistent across a broader patient population. The effect appears to start around six months into therapy, highlighting the time needed for the immune system to activate and learn to detect tumors.

This new approach could potentially explain why only about 30% of cancer patients respond to checkpoint inhibitors, as the vaccine may help train the immune system to better recognize and attack tumors.

Brief written by urgent.news from Time's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.