A personalised cancer vaccine has delivered a potentially major breakthrough.
Helping keep high-risk melanoma from returning when combined with an existing immunotherapy drug.
Developed by Moderna and Merck/MSD, the vaccine, called Intismeran, was tested alongside Keytruda.
It was tested in more than 1,000 patients after surgery.
The early results are striking: compared with Keytruda alone, the combination significantly extended the time patients remained cancer-free.
It also lowered the risk of the disease spreading.
So, could cancer treatment be entering a new era where vaccines are designed specifically for each patient?
The answer may be yes but experts are urging caution.
Vaccine Offers Hope For Melanoma
The full findings have not yet been published or independently peer-reviewed, and the researchers still need to determine how long the benefits last.
The approach uses mRNA technology to create a vaccine tailored to an individual tumour.
Scientists analyse mutations in a patient’s cancer and design the jab to train the immune system to hunt down remaining cancer cells.
“This is certainly good news for patients with melanoma,” said Oxford oncologist Lennard Lee.
He added that the study provides “proof of principle that personalised cancer vaccines work.” More detailed results are due in October.
It may be an important step forward but in cancer research, promising early results are only the beginning of the journey.
