- Cancer vaccines from Moderna and Merck used in combination with Merck’s Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma metastasizing to other parts of the body and dying by 65% compared to Keytruda alone.
- According to the American Cancer Society, the majority of skin cancer deaths are due to melanoma.
- The FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Moderna and Merck for the combined treatment of melanoma.
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Moderna and Merck’s Experimental Cancer Vaccine Used in Combination with Merck’s Keytruda Reduced Risk of Spreading to Other Parts of the Body in Clinical Trial’s Most Fatal Skin Cancer, Interim Study Shows person announced. trial Results were announced on Monday.
Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccines reduce the risk of melanoma metastasizing to other parts of the body and dying in stage 3 or 4 patients compared to patients receiving Merck’s immunotherapy treatments alone65 Tests have shown that it reduces the
Moderna and Merck plan to present the data at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago at 5:00 pm ET.
The clinical trial involved 157 patients who had their cancer surgically removed.
Patients in the treatment group will receive a total of 9 injections of 1 milligram vaccine every 3 weeks and a 200 mg IV infusion of Keytruda every 3 weeks for approximately 1 year.
According to the American Cancer Society, the majority of skin cancer deaths are due to melanoma. According to the association, the prevalence of melanoma has increased rapidly in the last few decades.
About 100,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, and about 8,000 people are expected to die from the disease, according to the Society.
The data released Monday are the latest encouraging results released by Moderna and Merck.
In April, the companies announced data showing that the combination of Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccines with Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence by 44% compared to patients receiving Merck’s immunotherapy alone.
In February, the Food and Drug Administration granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Moderna and Merck, which is intended to accelerate the development and review of treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that the vaccine was jointly developed by Moderna and Merck.
