Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 20: A personalized cancer vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck has shown encouraging results in a large clinical trial. The trial, notably, involved people with high risk melanoma. The companies said on August 19 that their experimental treatment helped patients stay free of cancer recurrence and distant spread for longer when combined with existing immunotherapy.
The treatment goes by the name intismeran autogene, or V940/mRNA-4157. It is designed differently from conventional vaccines. Instead of preventing an infection, it is created specifically for an individual patient after analysing the genetic makeup of their tumor.
Notably, the process begins after the melanoma is surgically removed. Doctors analyse the tumor for mutations that are found in cancer cells but not healthy tissue. The most promising mutations are then used to create a personalized mRNA vaccine.
The vaccine aims to train the immune system, particularly T cells, to recognise these cancer specific markers. It was tested alongside pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which helps immune cells attack cancer by blocking the PD-1 pathway. In simple terms, the vaccine helps the immune system identify the target, while pembrolizumab helps it stay active against the target.
The Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial included 1,137 patients with completely removed stage IIB-IV melanoma. Those receiving the vaccine with pembrolizumab had better recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis free survival than those who received pembrolizumab alone.
However, the companies have released only topline results so far. Overall survival data are still being collected, and the detailed findings are expected to be presented at a medical meeting. It is important to note that the treatment is yet to be approved and be available to patients. Regulators will need to review the complete trial data before deciding whether it can be used routinely or not.
