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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
Telegraph reporters

Skin cancer vaccine based on Covid jab technology hailed as a game changer in first trials

Merck HQ in Kenilworth, New Jersey - Seth Wenig/AP
Merck HQ in Kenilworth, New Jersey - Seth Wenig/AP

A skin cancer vaccine has been found to boost survival rates by nearly half in "very exciting" clinical trial results.

Pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Merck have announced promising results for their mRNA personalised cancer vaccine, which is designed to prime the immune system so the body can generate a response based on a person's specific type of cancer tumour.

It uses the same mRNA technology that was first used in Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.

Experts from the Institute of Cancer Research in London (ICR) described the result as "exciting" and said such vaccines showed great potential in improving cancer treatment.

Moderna and Merck said the jab – mRNA-4157/V940 – when combined with the drug Keytruda, led to a 44 per cent reduction in the risk of the cancer returning compared with Keytruda alone in patients with stage three and four melanoma.

They said the results are the first demonstration of effectiveness for an mRNA cancer treatment in a randomised clinical trial.

'Results are highly encouraging'

The firms will now approach regulators with the results and launch a third-stage trial as well as "rapidly" expanding the drug to other types of cancer.

Stephane Bancel, Moderna's chief executive, said: "Today's results are highly encouraging for the field of cancer treatment. MRNA has been transformative for Covid-19 and now, for the first time, we have demonstrated the potential for mRNA to have an impact on outcomes in a randomised clinical trial in melanoma.

"We will begin additional studies in melanoma and other forms of cancer with the goal of bringing truly individualised treatments to patients.

"We look forward to publishing the full data set and sharing the results at an upcoming oncology medical conference, as well as with health authorities."

The vaccine is designed to stimulate an immune response using T cells based on the unique mutational make-up of a patient's tumour.

Keytruda is an immunotherapy that works by boosting the body's immune system to help detect and fight cancer cells.

'This is very exciting'

Alan Melcher, professor of translational immunotherapy at the ICR, said: "There's no question, this is very exciting.

"These results show the feasibility of making and delivering personalised vaccines to treat cancer, and that the vaccine can add benefit to current treatments.

"These results establish the principle that this complex technology is doable.

"However, these are still early results and we have not seen the full data yet.

"The trial is relatively small and the benefits of vaccines against melanoma and potentially other cancers need to be further tested in larger trials and other cancer types.

"It will also be important to see if the vaccine did indeed generate an immune response against the tumour, which I anticipate will be tested using tissue and blood samples collected from patients in this study."

Dr Juanita Lopez, consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden, said: "This is the first time we've seen a personalised cancer vaccine, together with standard of care immunotherapy, reduce the chances of cancer coming back in patients with early stages of skin cancer.

"The findings are exciting and open the door for further trials in melanoma, as well as other types of cancer."

She added: "By leveraging the power of the immune system to specifically spot, recognise, and destroy cancer cells, these personalised cancer vaccines hold great potential for improving cancer treatment outcomes."

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