A personalized vaccine developed by Merck & Co. and Moderna Inc. helped prevent the recurrence of severe skin cancer for three years in promising new results from a study.
Patients with severe melanomas who got the vaccine and Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda were 49% less likely to die or have their cancer return than those who got Keytruda alone, the companies said Thursday.
The findings are especially important for Moderna, the Covid shot-maker whose post-pandemic strategy involves developing new uses for its messenger RNA technology to fight flu, RSV and cancer. Last month, Moderna said it expected revenue to fall sharply in 2024 to a level well below analysts’ expectations, sparking concerns about the company’s ability to pay for its ambitious product pipeline.
Melanoma accounts for only about 1% of US skin cancers, but causes most of the annual deaths from the disease. Making the cancer vaccine involves analyzing the genetic sequence of each patient’s tumor to create a personalized therapy that teaches the immune system to recognize markers of the abnormal growth. In the mid-stage study, patients received the drugs after the tumors were surgically removed.
Moderna shares gained as much as 21% on Thursday when the US markets opened, their biggest increase in a year. The company’s stock had lost more than half its value this year through Wednesday’s close. Merck’s shares were down about 1%.
The three-year results are similar to those seen after two years, when the risk of death or recurrence was 44% lower among those who got the drug-vaccine combination than those getting Keytruda alone. Side effects remained generally mild, such as fatigue, pain at the injection site and chills, they said.
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