MADRID — A personalized mRNA cancer vaccine reduced the risk of disease recurrence in patients with melanoma by 42% compared to a standard treatment, according to a large clinical trial conducted by the drugmakers Moderna and Merck.
The results are an important advance for the treatment of melanoma, oncologists said, because patients lived significantly longer without their cancer returning.
The success of the Moderna-Merck vaccine, intismeran autogene, may also usher in a new wave of treatments for other types of cancer. It is an individualized therapy that attacks the unique mutations, called neoantigens, found in a patient’s tumor. The approach is made possible by the same mRNA technology that led to the rapid development of vaccines against Covid-19.