Moderna Starts Late-Stage study of Skin Cancer Vaccine Combination

Moderna announced the start of patient enrollment in a late-stage study evaluating its tailored mRNA-based skin cancer vaccine in combination with Merck's blockbuster medication Keytruda. A mid-stage research found that the combination reduced the risk of recurrence or mortality from melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, by 44% when compared to Keytruda alone. In a larger trial of around 1,089 individuals, the businesses will now see if the combination is successful in lowering the chance of disease recurrence.

The 157 melanoma patients in the mid-stage study had their tumours surgically excised before being treated with either the drug-vaccine combination or Keytruda alone. The firms claimed that global recruitment for the late-stage trial has commenced, with the first patients enrolling in Australia, and that the study would take place in more than 25 countries across the world. The Merck/Moderna cooperation is one of several combining medications that use messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination technology to activate the immune system and target tumours.

The vaccines are intended to teach the immune system to recognise and kill certain cancer cell abnormalities. The personalized vaccine works in concert with Merck's Keytruda, a so-called checkpoint inhibitor designed to disable a protein called programmed death 1, or PD-1, that helps cancer to evade the immune system. BioNTech SE and Gritstone Bio are also working on competing cancer vaccines based on the mRNA technology. Shares of Moderna rose 1per cent in premarket trading.