A Sydney scientist is leading a world-first cancer vaccine trial that has dramatically reduced the risk of melanoma returning or patients dying from the disease.
The study found the vaccine cut the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 42 per cent compared with patients who received only an immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, which is sold under the brand name Keytruda.
The landmark findings could pave the way for personalised cancer vaccines to improve survival rates for patients with melanoma and potentially other cancers.
Professor Georgina Long, medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia and chair of melanoma medical oncology and translational research at the University of Sydney, was the principal investigator in the clinical trial.
'These results show that patients with earlier-stage melanoma can be treated after surgery in a fundamentally new way,' Professor Long said.
'These results are more than a landmark for melanoma. Just as email transformed how we communicate, individualised neoantigen therapy has the potential to transform how we treat cancer.'
The vaccine, known as intismeran, is being jointly developed by pharmaceutical companies Moderna and MSD.
Intismeran is an individualised messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccine designed specifically for each patient, based on the unique genetic characteristics of their tumour.
Professor Georgina Long (pictured) led the clinical trial of a world-first cancer vaccine that dramatically reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or death
The study found the vaccine cut the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 42 per cent compared with standard treatment (stock image)
The vaccine targets neoantigens, abnormal proteins that develop on cancer cells following genetic mutations. It is designed to train the immune system to recognise these unique markers and identify and attack the tumour.
By tailoring treatment to each patient's cancer, the approach aims to strengthen the body's immune response and lower the risk of the disease returning.
Professor Long described the technology as a significant leap forward in cancer treatment, combining personalised medicine with advances in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and data analysis.
'This is a coalescence of an mRNA platform, personalised, and the use of algorithms and data in a way that we've never seen before,' she said.
'It is equivalent to the first email which has absolutely changed communication. This is that sort of change in cancer, in my view.'
The trial, funded by Merck and Moderna, was conducted across 157 sites worldwide and involved 1,137 patients whose melanoma had been surgically removed but who remained at high risk of the cancer returning.
None of the participants had previously received drug treatment for their cancer.
It ran across a host of Australian sites, including Melanoma Institute Australia, Westmead Hospital in NSW, Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland, and the Paula Fox Melanoma and Cancer Centre and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Victoria.
Professor Long described the findings as a major advance in cancer care
Professor Long has dedicated her career to eliminating melanoma deaths and developing treatments for resistant cancers.
In 2024, she was named Australian of the Year alongside her late colleague, Professor Richard Scolyer.
Associate Professor Seth Cheetham, director of the Australian mRNA Cancer Vaccine Hub, described the findings as a major breakthrough that could usher in a new era of cancer research and treatment.
'This is the first really large trial that's shown definitively that this technology works, it reduces the risk of recurrence or spread and results in better outcomes compared to standard of care,' he said.
'This is really the gold standard, and it's what the entire field's been waiting on,' he added.
Professor Long said the results could have implications far beyond melanoma.
'I think track record predicts future,' she said.
'So advances in melanoma transformed lung cancer, kidney cancer, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer, so many other cancers.'
Professor Georgina Long was named Australian of the Year in 2024 alongside her late colleague Professor Richard Scolyer
She said the findings represented a fundamental change in cancer treatment by using the immune system in a more personalised way to reduce the risk of melanoma returning or causing death.
'This has not been achieved before in the history of cancer drug development,' she said.
Moderna's shares reportedly surged by more than 170 per cent in a single trading day in August after news of the trial's promising results emerged.