A personalized mRNA shot for melanoma just did something no cancer vaccine has done before. As The Wall Street Journal’s Alex Janin reports, the company’s personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, succeeded in a Phase 3 trial for high-risk melanoma patients — the first personalized mRNA cancer therapy to hit its mark in a late-stage study.
A Vaccine Built From Your Own Tumor
The shot works by sequencing a patient’s tumor after surgery, spotting up to 34 unique mutations, then encoding them into a custom shot made in weeks. Combined with Merck’s Keytruda, it delayed melanoma’s return and its spread to other organs in the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of more than 1,100 patients. Earlier data had already shown the combination cut the risk of recurrence or death by 49% over five years.
“I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a new field,” said Jane Healy, Merck’s vice president of oncology.
“We are now an oncology company,” said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, marking a sharp pivot since its pandemic-only days.
After years of ideological and political attacks on its core technology, Moderna is proving mRNA’s immense post-pandemic potential.
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