A novel mRNA cancer vaccine helps reduce the chances of melanoma patients’ tumors returning
A novel mRNA cancer vaccine helps reduce the chances of melanoma patients’ tumors returning
WASHINGTON (AP) — A first-of-its-kind cancer vaccine is significantly reducing the chances that melanoma patients’ tumors come back, according to results of a major study released Thursday by drugmakers Moderna and Merck.
The vaccine was custom-brewed for each patient to match their tumor. Adding it to a standard post-surgery treatment reduced by 42% the risk of melanoma returning two years after surgery, according to the most advanced study to date of this new strategy for fighting cancer.
“The field has been looking for a win and I think this one is a big one,” said Dr. Hussein Tawbi of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the researchers in the international study.
The vaccine, called intismeran, is made with the same Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology that was behind COVID-19 vaccines. Experimental personalized cancer vaccines made with mRNA and some other approaches also are being tested against other types of cancer including lung, kidney and pancreatic.
Experts not involved with the new study say its success bolsters the field.
“This is a new frontier,” said Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute, which helps fund cancer immunotherapy research.
“It’s a big step forward for science, for oncology, because this vaccine will apply to many different cancers,” said Dr. Michael Atkins, deputy director of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Moderna and Merck had announced in August that the late-stage trial of intismeran was successful but the detailed results were set to be released Saturday at a meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology in Madrid. Some of the data was leaked publicly late Thursday, prompting a full release ahead of the weekend’s scientific presentation.
Most people think of vaccines as preventing an infection, like measles or whooping cough. There are already two cancer-preventing vaccines, the HPV and hepatitis B shots that block infection from those tumor-causing viruses. And research is underway to prevent some types of inherited cancer such as Lynch syndrome-caused colorectal cancer.
But a personalized vaccine designed to block surgically-removed cancer from returning is very different. For the intismeran study, scientists hunted gene mutations unique to each patient’s tumor, mutations that create proteins which shouldn’t be in the body unless those cancer cells start to grow again. The custom vaccine — nine doses given three weeks apart — teaches the patient’s immune system to watch out for and attack those so-called neoantigens.
How did it work? The study included more than 1,100 people with high-risk melanoma that was surgically removed. Everyone was given the standard follow-up therapy: Merck’s immunotherapy named Keytruda. The participants were randomly assigned to also receive custom-brewed vaccine doses or a placebo.
Two years later, 82% of the people in the vaccine group were still living without a recurrence of their cancer compared to 70% who had gotten standard Keytruda alone. The trial is continuing to track participants’ longer-term outcomes.
In 2024, Tony Hout joined the vaccine trial at MD Anderson after seeking care for a spot on his ear that had been bleeding intermittently and wouldn’t fully heal. Doctors recognized melanoma and during surgery discovered it had started to spread.
“I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to be here for my family,” said Hout, 62, who has since moved to Cayuga, Indiana, and travels back to Houston every few months for a study check-up. Scans this week showed he’s still cancer-free.
The vaccine’s side effects were mainly the sore arm, fatigue and other reactions typical of mRNA coronavirus vaccination, MD Anderson’s Tawbi said.
Moderna and Merck are talking with regulatory authorities about next steps for seeking approval of the vaccine.
Customized medicines generally are very expensive. The drugmakers aren’t discussing what such a cancer vaccine might cost.
But Moderna President Stephen Hoge said the company’s special cancer vaccine manufacturing facility in Massachusetts is providing doses for thousands of people enrolled in multiple studies underway internationally.
Hoge said it takes a few days to brew the vaccine but the whole process, starting with analyzing the tumor genetics to come up with what is essentially a recipe for each patient, can take roughly six weeks, sometimes more. Meanwhile, the melanoma patients had already started their standard Keytruda, a different kind of immunotherapy.
Moderna shares dropped 18% Thursday after the study’s full results were made public, but they remained more than 200% higher than they were in late August before investors were first told of the initial results.
___
The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org
Once among Madagascar’s most influential businessmen and a close ally of deposed president Andry Rajoelina, Mamy Ravatomanga stands at the centre of one of the island’s most explosive corruption cases.Ravatomanga himself will not be in the dock after he fled to the neighbouring island of Mauritius days before a military coup ousted Rajoelina in October 2025.
By Yimou Lee, Angie Teo and Fabian Hamacher YILAN/KEELUNG, Taiwan, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Almost all of Taiwan shut down on Friday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Champi, which is forecast to bring strong
The warning covers the coast at Chiswell, where strong winds and large waves are causing flooding.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for Cornwall and parts of west Devon, while Jersey is under a red warning as Storm Austen lashes the region.
The assurance from the National Energy System Operator comes amid concern from its engineers about their ability to ensure adequate supply.
As an officer, the Upper Bann MP belonged to a small, decision-making committee within the Democratic Unionist Party.
As world leaders prepare to gather in Shenzhen for November’s APEC summit, speculation is mounting over a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un — a prospect experts say remains remote.I’m not sure that anybody’s asking for a meeting,” adding that his “relationship with Kim Jong Un is very good.”
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said its soldiers shot and killed two men who had launched an attack near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning. At least five people were injured, including some critically.
Her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy is airing the ad featuring her mother, whose husband was charged with sexual abuse in her childhood.
A group of Pittsburgh-area men were charged in connection to a cocaine trafficking operation.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for rain across Scotland on Friday, followed by a wind warning on Saturday.
South Korea proposed on Friday military talks with North Korea to “mutually confirm the precise location” of their border and discuss restoring communication channels, after an explosion in the DMZ further strained relations.The South Korean defence ministry “formally proposes holding military talks with North Korea to mutually confirm the precise location of the land Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and discuss ways to restore military communication lines and prevent accidental clashes in border
After two years of student protests, Serbians vote on Sunday in elections that could bring down the ruling party.
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI, Oct 23 (Reuters) – China is combining militia vessels with coast guard ships to expand “battlefield preparation” around Taiwan and into the western Pacific,
A caregiver wore a protective gown and gloves as she bottle-fed a baby — one of hundreds of children orphaned by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak.Her office has registered 8,200 newly orphaned children since the outbreak began.
BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party will gather some 300 of its highest-ranking members next week to discuss tightening discipline among its ranks, a conclave analysts say could
The defence secretary says the UK is “back in the business of making weapons” for its armed forces.
Oct 23 () – OpenAI said on Friday it would collaborate with Poland’s NASK National Research Institute on AI safety, security and technical research, as rising incidents of rogue behaviour by AI agents put AI safety in the spotlight. Some industry figures have warned the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity and have called for regulation to slow down AI development • OpenAI said it has called for the US to work with countries around the world on international technica
Authorities uncovered the plot when the man’s heirs tried to sell the south Florida home, police say.
Officials confirmed the first detection of New World screwworm in U.S. wildlife after the flesh-eating parasite was identified in an elk in Texas.
Powered by WPeMatico