On Tuesday, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced that their personalized cancer-vaccine program was successful in a midstage study of skin-cancer patients. The results indicate that the biotech company’s messenger RNA (mRNA) technology has the potential to be a game changer in the field beyond just COVID-19 vaccines. Shares were up 21% by midday on Tuesday.
“Today’s results are highly encouraging for the field of cancer treatment,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. “mRNA has been transformative for COVID-19, and now, for the first time ever, we have demonstrated the potential for mRNA to have an impact on outcomes in a randomized clinical trial in melanoma,”
In the randomized trial, 157 patients with severe melanoma received either a combination of Moderna’s cancer vaccine mRNA-4157/V940 and Merck &Co’s (NYSE: MRK) immunotherapy Keytruda, or just Keytruda alone. Those that received the mRNA vaccine had a 44% reduction in the rate of cancer recurrence and death compared to the group that only received Keytruda.
“These positive findings represent an important milestone in our collaboration with Moderna,” said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories. “Over the last six years, our teams have worked closely together combining our respective expertise in mRNA and immuno-oncology with a focus on improving outcomes for patients with cancer. We look forward to advancing this program into the next phase of development.”
Merck’s Keytruda is the current standard of treatment for certain cancers, including melanoma. The blockbuster immunotherapy brought US$15.5 billion in sales for the company from the first through the third quarter of this year.
Bancel sees the same trajectory for the cancer vaccine mRNA-4157/V940. “Now we are an oncology company,” Bancel told Insider, “and we might be one of the biggest oncology companies down the road.” The vaccine could very well be the boost that Moderna needs, shares are still down 8.41% year to date.
Moderna last traded at $215.04 on the Nasdaq. Merck, meanwhile, last traded at $111.83 on the NYSE.
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