Merck and Moderna introduce experimental skin cancer vaccine

 

• The vaccine reduced the risk of death in skin cancer patients by 44 percent.
• The combination treatment with Keytruda, has obtained the designation of innovative therapy in the United States and PRIME plan of the European Medicines Agency.

 

Mexico City, April 19, 2023. The experimental messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna Inc, combined with MSD's immunotherapy, Keytruda, reduced the risk of death or recurrence of the deadliest skin cancer by 44 percent compared to Keytruda alone.

The findings suggest that adding a personalized cancer vaccine based on mRNA technology to Keytruda, which reactivates the immune response, could prolong the time patients have without recurrence or death, said Jeffrey Weber, M.D., of NYU Perlmutter Langone Cancer Center, who presented the results.

"From a cancer therapeutic standpoint in general, this is a potentially important advance," Dr. Ryan Sullivan, a melanoma expert at Mass General Cancer who worked on the study, said in a statement.

The results, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Orlando, Florida, added to the partial findings published by the companies in December. The combination therapy has obtained the designation of innovative therapy in the United States and PRIME plan of the European Medicines Agency, regulatory programs that aim to accelerate the development of initiatives.