Personalized cancer vaccine from Moderna, Merck shows promise in first late-stage melanoma trial

JUST IN: Moderna and Merck's personalized cancer vaccine shows promise in first late-stage trial, significantly extending time melanoma patients lived without their cancer returning compared with Keytruda alone. Moderna shares jump over 10%.

A cancer vaccine built for one patient at a time just passed its first phase three trial.

Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA shot, paired with Keytruda, kept melanoma from coming back for significantly longer than Keytruda alone. Over 1,100 patients, all high-risk cases who'd had their tumors surgically removed. It also cut the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body. Wall Street noticed, Moderna jumped more than ten percent this morning.

Here's what makes this different. Every tumor carries its own set of mutations, so this vaccine is custom-built to target each patient's specific cancer, then Keytruda helps the immune system finish the job. Side effects, the companies say, were about what you'd get from an ordinary vaccine.

Melanoma is one percent of skin cancers and the vast majority of skin cancer deaths, and most recurrences hit within three years. If this holds up in the survival data, it won't stop at melanoma.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at cnbc.com