Experimental melanoma vaccine: Moderna shares surge by 160 per cent

Moderna’s share price soars on Wall Street following positive results from the trial conducted jointly with Merck on the new experimental melanoma vaccine. The drug reportedly succeeded in preventing recurrence and the spread of the disease in a study involving patients with the most complex form of the condition: this paves the way for a potentially innovative treatment capable of prolonging the lives of the thousands of people diagnosed with this potentially lethal skin cancer every year. Shares in the American pharmaceutical giant immediately surged by up to 160 per cent. Merck’s rise was decidedly more modest but still significant, climbing by 11 per cent.

The mRNA vaccine, administered in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda, has achieved – as announced by the two pharmaceutical companies – the key objectives of the phase 3 trial conducted on over 1,100 patients with high-risk or advanced-stage melanoma, who had undergone surgery to completely remove the tumour. The treatment also reduced the risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. These results confirm and complement the positive data emerging from the Phase 2 trial conducted on the same treatment regimen earlier this year.

For the American company Moderna – one of the pioneers of the innovative mRNA technology first used in the development of one of the Covid-19 vaccines, alongside the other vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech – this is a very important step for its product pipeline. It is equally important for this frontier of research, which is now focusing, in the wake of the pandemic, on the development of the first mRNA anti-cancer vaccines. In fact, several trials are currently underway for Moderna, as well as for other major pharmaceutical companies, to use this technology against other cancers, such as those affecting the lungs, kidneys or pancreas. It should be emphasised that these personalised vaccines are therapeutic, not preventative.

“This is the first announcement of positive Phase 3 results for an mRNA-based cancer therapy,” Merck and Moderna stated in a joint press release. “For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA treatment specifically designed for a single individual’s tumour was hard to imagine. Today, we are helping to turn that vision into reality,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. Merck and Moderna now intend to present the data at an upcoming scientific conference and begin the process of seeking regulatory approval for the treatment. ‘We are at the beginning of a major breakthrough in the field of oncology: in adjuvant therapy, immunotherapy had already achieved certain results; now, with this personalised mRNA therapeutic vaccine, the benefits are increased and relapses are reduced in patients who have already undergone surgery,” notes Paolo Ascierto, an oncologist and director of the Melanoma Oncology Unit, Oncological Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies at the Pascale Institute in Naples, one of the leading experts on melanoma. He adds: “We are now awaiting the data to be presented, but this is only the beginning for anti-tumour mRNA vaccines.”