Moderna and Merck have announced that late-stage trials of a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for the treatment of melanoma have yielded positive results.
The companies stated that the treatment reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence or spread when used in conjunction with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Notably, Keytruda is already widely used to treat melanoma and several other cancers.
This result is the first successful completion of a late-stage trial involving an mRNA cancer vaccine. Furthermore, it is also the first study to demonstrate that combining another treatment with Keytruda can outperform Keytruda alone.