CHICAGO - Adding an experimental mRNA-based vaccine from Moderna Inc and Merck & Co reduced the risk that the most deadly skin cancer would spread by 65 per cent over treatment with an immunotherapy alone in a mid-stage trial, the companies reported on Monday (June 5). The results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, follow...
CHICAGO - Adding an experimental mRNA-based vaccine from Moderna Inc and Merck & Co reduced the risk that the most deadly skin cancer would spread by 65 per cent over treatment with an immunotherapy alone in a mid-stage trial, the companies reported on Monday .
The hope is for "a completely new treatment paradigm in cancer that will be better tolerated and unique to individual patients' tumours," said Dr Jane Healy, an executive overseeing in early cancer treatment development at Merck. Companies use artificial intelligence to predict which mutations will be the most effective targets. These are used to build an individualised vaccine targeting only mutations in the patient's tumour.
Merck and Moderna have been collaborating since 2016. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York began working with Germany's BioNTech in 2017. Dr Balachandran's team studied the rare long-term survivors and found an immune system component called T cells in these individuals were able to recognise mutations derived from the cancer, raising the possibility of a targeted vaccine.
The approach first primes the immune system with an older technology called a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine that targets patients' tumours.
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