Moderna/Merck begins late-stage study of skin cancer vaccine combination (updated)

Gritstone bio

26/07/2023 17:12

(Adds company comments in paragraph 10, background in
paragraphs 5,8)
       July 26 (Reuters) - Moderna  MRNA.O  and its partner
Merck  MRK.N  said on Wednesday that they had begun enrolling
patients in a late-stage study testing their personalized
mRNA-based skin cancer vaccine in combination with the
immunotherapy Keytruda. 
    Data from a mid-stage study in 157 patients had shown that
the vaccine combination cut the risk of recurrence or death by
44% in patients with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin
cancer, when compared with Keytruda alone.
    More than 1,000 patients from over 25 countries are expected
to be included in the current trial, with the first patients
being enrolled in Australia.
    The companies are testing the vaccine in melanoma patients
whose tumors were surgically removed before being treated with
either the drug-vaccine combination or Keytruda alone.
    The vaccine is tailored for each patient to generate
T-cells, a key part of the body's immune response, based on the
specific mutational signature of a tumor.
    Merck's Keytruda is a so-called checkpoint inhibitor
designed to disable a protein called programmed death 1, or
PD-1, that helps cancer to evade the immune system.
    BioNTech SE  22UAy.DE  and Gritstone Bio  GRTS.O  are also
working on competing cancer vaccines based on the mRNA
technology.
    Scientists have been chasing the dream of vaccines to treat
cancer for decades with few successes. According to industry
experts, mRNA vaccines, which can be produced in as little as
eight weeks, paired with drugs that rev up the immune system may
lead to a new generation of cancer therapies.
    The late-stage trial's main goal is to measure the amount of
time patients live without the cancer returning when treated
with the combination, compared to treatment with Keytruda alone.
    The duration of the study would depend on when that occurs,
the companies said.
    

 (Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi
Majumdar)
 ((Bhanvi.Satija@thomsonreuters.com; Outside U.S. +91
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