Pharmaceutical giant Moderna plans to launch a messenger RNA-based vaccine for skin cancer in 2025. It says it has developed an mRNA vaccine with similar technology to its COVID-19 vaccine that is proving to be effective against melanoma.
“Phase 2 data is available,” announced Stephane Bancel, the CEO of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech. “We have a factory that is almost finalized, and usually for cancer, those products are ready in six months versus 12 months so that’s why ’25 is possible.”
According to Seeking Alpha, Moderna has had promising results from its personalized cancer vaccine in mid-stage data. It’s called mRNA-4157, and when used in combination with Merck’s anti-PD1 therapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda), has been shown to be effective in high-risk cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Keytruda is a drug that uncovers tumor cells making them more visible for the immune system, or in this case, the mRNA vaccine, to help control malignant growth.
In the phase 2 study of patients with stage 3 or stage 4 melanomas who had surgery to remove most of their tumors, two-thirds received a monthly dose of Moderna’s vaccine for nine months along with Keytruda treatment for three weeks a year. The remaining third only received Keytruda, says TIME.
After three years, the participants who received both treatments had a 49% lower risk of cancer returning or of dying, and a 62% lower risk of their cancer spreading, compared to the people who only received Keytruda. Overall, 75% of the patients who had dual therapies survived with no reoccurrences at 2.5 years compared to only 56% of those on Keytruda.
“Across all measures of efficacy, we are starting to see significant and durable responses,” said Dr Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna. “This is a dramatic impact on melanoma.”
So far, efforts to gain approval for the melanoma protocol from the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated path based on existing data haven’t been fruitful. But both Moderna and Merck say they will pursue phase 3 trials despite the holdup.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 100,640 new melanomas will be diagnosed in 2024, and approximately 8,290 Americans will die from the disease.