Cancer vaccine half successful: promising results from Moderna

2023-04-18 23:15:33

New data from a trial of an mRNA vaccine have shown it to halve the risk of melanoma, the serious skin cancer, according to US drug manufacturers Moderna and Merck.

In the study of 157 people who had surgery to treat melanoma, 78.6 percent of those who received the personalized vaccine and Keytruda immunotherapy were cancer-free in 18 months, while 62.2 percent of those who received immunotherapy alone did not have a recurrence.

Cancer recurrence or death occurred in 22.4 percent, including 24 of 107 people who received combination therapy and 20 of 50 people who received immunotherapy alone.

However, Moderna and Merck announced that the cancer vaccine did not cause any serious side effects. The most common side effects were fatigue, pain at the injection site, and chills.

Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, therapeutics and oncology, Dr. “The results show that mRNA vaccines have great potential for people with cancer,” said Kyle Holen. mRNA prolongs the life of patients.” he said.

HOW DO mRNA VACCINE AND IMMUNOTHERAPY EFFECT?

Moderna’s experimental cancer vaccine mRNA-4157/V940 is designed to prepare the immune system to mount a response against certain tumors. Merck Keytruda, which is currently used in the treatment of melanoma, stimulates the immune system to attack tumors.

On the other hand, companies presented the latest data at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Moderna and Meck said they plan to start a Phase 3 trial this year, and that the trials will expand to include more tumor types, including lung cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma accounts for about 1 percent of all skin cancers, but causes the majority of skin cancer deaths.

The organization estimates that approximately 100,000 will be diagnosed with broad melanoma in the United States this year, and approximately 8,000 will die from melanoma.