Breakfast News: A Conversation With Moderna’s CEO

In a recent conversation, Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel discussed the company's personalized cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, which showed promising results in a phase 3 trial. The vaccine, when added to Merck's Keytruda, reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence after surgery. Moderna's platform allows them to develop multiple drugs by simply changing the code, rather than starting from scratch for each new medicine.

The company has achieved an impressive success rate of 85% in its phase 3 trials, compared to an industry average of 10%. Intismeran is designed for individual patients, with their tumors sequenced and mutations picked by an algorithm to create a custom vaccine. This vaccine is administered alongside Keytruda to enhance the immune system's ability to target the cancer.

Bancel emphasized the company's focus on the long-term game rather than short-term profits, investing his own money in Moderna's stock during a time when earnings per share were not a primary concern. He also highlighted the potential for AI to accelerate the drug development process, aiming to reduce the time between phase 3 studies and approval from months to just three. Despite the recent sales drop, Moderna remains committed to its platform and continues to innovate.