{"id":646902,"date":"2026-08-20T08:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646902\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T08:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:13:16","slug":"what-is-modernas-new-cancer-vaccine-and-how-big-a-breakthrough-is-it-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/646902\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Moderna\u2019s new cancer vaccine and how big a breakthrough is it? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merck <\/a>and Moderna\u2019s<\/a> success with a personalised cancer vaccine <\/a>designed to keep melanoma at bay opens a \u200cnew avenue of treatment that doctors hope will work against many types of tumours.<\/p>\n

Unlike chemotherapy, which kills both healthy and cancerous cells, or immunotherapy, which revs up the immune system, personalised cancer <\/a>vaccines train the immune system to specifically target mutations found \u200bonly on a person\u2019s tumour. <\/p>\n

Moderna and Merck, known as MSD outside of the US and Canada, said on Wednesday their vaccine helped prevent the return and spread of disease<\/a> in a large trial involving more than 1,000 melanoma patients. <\/p>\n

They had localised tumours that were removed surgically, but had a high risk of recurrence. Moderna expects that thousands of melanoma patients could benefit within the first few years of approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a big deal for the field in general,\u201d said Dr Ryan Sullivan, director of the melanoma centre at \u200bMass General Brigham Cancer Institute. \u201cWith this positive study, there is hope (and likely investment to follow) that these approaches may change the way we treat cancer more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incidence for malignant melanoma for women in Ireland is one of the highest in Europe \u2013 fourth out of 26 countries \u2013 while the rate for men is well above average. <\/p>\n

The trial result is \u201ca monumental leap forward,\u201d validating mRNA technology as a cancer treatment, said Dr Julie \u2060Gralow, chief medical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.<\/p>\n

Beyond melanoma, personalised cancer vaccines are in late-stage development for a host of tumour types. Merck \u200cand Moderna \u200chave \u200bseveral large trials under way in non-small cell lung cancers that have been surgically removed.<\/p>\n

They are also studying the combination in mid-stage trials in patients with bladder and kidney cancers as well as in early-stage trials in pancreatic and stomach cancers, with numerous trial results expected in the next year or \u2060two, Moderna president Stephen Hoge said.<\/p>\n

Roche and BioNTech, whose mRNA technology was used in \u200bthe Pfizer Covid vaccines, are testing a similar treatment called autogene cevumeran in mid-stage studies in \u200bcolon and pancreatic cancer patients who have undergone surgery.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Melanoma vaccine success boosts Moderna and MerckOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Results of the colon cancer trial are expected next year, with pancreatic trial results to follow in 2031.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be hearing results from multiple studies over the next \u200cfew years and there\u2019s every reason to hope now, with this news, \u200bthat many of them will be positive,\u201d said Dr Robert Vonderheide, director of Penn Medicine\u2019s Abramson Cancer Center and president-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research.<\/p>\n

So, how does it work? Merck and Moderna\u2019s treatment, \u2060known as intismeran autogene, involves activating the immune system with up to nine \u2060doses of Merck\u2019s immunotherapy drug Keytruda, infused every six \u200bweeks, plus up to nine doses of a customised mRNA vaccine that instructs the immune system to attack the patient\u2019s specific cancer cells.<\/p>\n

When used alone after surgery to reduce the risk that melanoma returns, Keytruda is given every three to six weeks for up to a year.<\/p>\n

In melanoma patients, Keytruda treatment can result in fatigue, diarrhoea, rash and inflammation of joints and muscles, as well as of healthy organs in some cases. The companies said they saw no new side effects with the addition of the vaccine.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe incidence for malignant melanoma for women in Ireland is one of the highest in Europe \u2013 fourth out of 26 countries \u2013 while the rate for men is well above average. Photograph: Myung Jung Kim\/PA <\/p>\n

The trial is ongoing and the companies have not released full results. They will continue to follow volunteers to determine whether the drug extends overall survival.<\/p>\n

Five-year data from a previous mid-stage trial presented in June showed the vaccine had cut the risk that the cancer would return by half, and reduced the risk that it would spread to new locations by 59 per cent compared with Keytruda alone.<\/p>\n

In that \u200ctrial, the addition of an mRNA vaccine \u2060also showed no new increase in the rate of serious side effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw in the (mid-stage trial) were the kinds of reactions people were having when they got a flu or Covid shot or any other vaccine,\u201d Hoge said.<\/p>\n

Dr Elizabeth Buchbinder, a melanoma specialist at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, said doctors treating patients whose cancer has \u200cbeen surgically removed often weigh the benefits of treating with Keytruda against the risk of side effects, especially for patients with only a 20 per cent risk of cancer recurrence.<\/p>\n

The added benefit of the vaccine, however, \u201cmay change that math,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Buchbinder said a \u200bkey reason to select melanoma to test in combination with Keytruda was that it is a tumour that produces a lot of mutations, \u200bmaking it easier for the immune system to spot.<\/p>\n

Many other cancer types also produce multiple mutations, she said, suggesting it may have broad applicability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see, but it\u2019s definitely an area that is going to be exploding, especially with these results coming out,\u201d she said. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merck and Moderna\u2019s success with a personalised cancer vaccine designed to keep melanoma at bay opens a \u200cnew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,110,64,18,19,17,82258,81045],"class_list":["post-646902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cancer","tag-covid-19","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-merck","tag-moderna"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117126837601634497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}