Moderna vaccine outperforms in early-stage skin cancer trials

Following the success of its mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, Moderna reported on December 13 that it had produced promising results when it applied its vaccine technique to cancer.

In a press release, Moderna announced that a tailored cancer vaccine produced with Merck—created utilizing mRNA genetic material from each patient’s unique tumors—reduced the chance of recurrence or death by 44% compared to usual care in 157 people with stage 3 or stage 4 melanoma.

Patients were randomly assigned to one of two treatments in the research. One group was given the drug pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, which is already on the market and works by releasing the brake that the immune system normally has on attacking cancer cells, because cancer cells grow from the body’s own cells.

The other group was given Keytruda as well as a tailored cancer vaccine created using mRNA technology. Moderna scientists biopsied and genetically analyzed those tumors for the vaccine group, then discovered almost three dozen genetic, individualized tumor flags in the form of mRNA for each patient’s immune system to recognize.