Adding an experimental messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccine from Moderna Inc and Merck & Co reduced the risk that the most deadly skin cancer would spread by 65 percent over treatment with an immunotherapy alone in a mid-stage trial, the companies reported on Monday.
With this and earlier data, Moderna is considering seeking faster approval from regulators for the treatment, the company told investors after having presented the results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
“Some of the residual uncertainty seems to be going away on that potential [option],” Moderna president Stephen Hoge said.
The data followed earlier promising data from the trial showing the customized mRNA vaccine given in combination with Merck’s Keytruda cut the risk of death or recurrence of melanoma by 44 percent compared with Keytruda alone.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that mRNA technology, which rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, can be used to assemble personalized vaccines that train the immune system to attack the specific type of cancer cells in a patient’s tumors.
Scientists have been chasing the dream of vaccines to treat cancer for decades with few successes.
Experts say mRNA vaccines, which can be produced in as little as eight weeks, paired with drugs that rev up the immune system might lead to a new generation of cancer therapies.
The hope is for “a completely new treatment paradigm in cancer that will be better tolerated and unique to individual patients’ tumors,” said Jane Healy, an executive overseeing in early cancer treatment development at Merck.
Moderna said during its investor call that it was starting a phase 3 confirmatory study, which it hoped to open in the third quarter of this year.
The Merck/Moderna collaboration is one of several combining powerful drugs that unleash the immune system to target cancers with mRNA vaccine technology.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine partner BioNTech SE and Gritstone Bio Inc are taking similar approaches using mRNA technology.
The vaccines all target neoantigens, new mutations that are only present on tumors. Aiming at these unique proteins allows the immune system to kill cancer cells, while leaving healthy tissue unscathed.
The trick is determining which of many mutations is driving the cancer. To accomplish this, tumors are removed and their genetic makeup is mapped using next-generation DNA sequencing. Companies use artificial intelligence to predict which mutations will be the most effective targets.
These are used to build an individualized vaccine targeting only mutations in the patient’s tumor.
During this process, patients typically receive an immunotherapy such as Keytruda or Roche’s Tecentriq, which block a mechanism cancer uses to hide from the immune system.
Long before COVID-19, companies had been eyeing mRNA technology, which carries instructions for cells to make specific proteins, as a vehicle for delivering a cancer vaccine.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese