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Moderna CEO Celebrates Cancer Vaccine Success
Confirmed
In Short: Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel expressed joy over the company's intismeran cancer vaccine's success.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel expressed joy over the company's intismeran cancer vaccine's success, stating, 'We’ve been working on intismeran for 10 years. Most people in the field thought this was never going to work, and many people had tried cancer vaccines before. But we were convinced, so it has been really special to be able to see all this work by so many people coming together to help patients.'
Bancel's optimism was palpable during the European Society for Medical Oncology annual meeting in Madrid, where he said, 'It’s an amazing feeling.'
The intismeran vaccine, developed in collaboration with Merck, showed significant promise in a Phase 3 clinical trial involving 1,137 patients with high-risk melanoma. The trial found that the mRNA vaccine, when combined with pembrolizumab, reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 42 percent compared to pembrolizumab alone.
Karen Knudsen, CEO of the nonprofit Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, praised the findings, calling them 'really encouraging.' She noted that the combination treatment could decrease the number of patients who have to deal with their melanoma coming back and reduce the need for additional treatments.
The study, which is still blinded, has been accepted for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results indicate that the mRNA vaccine and pembrolizumab reduced the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body and of death by 38 percent over pembrolizumab alone.
Meanwhile, Moderna also received FDA approval for its mFlusiva vaccine, which uses the same mRNA technology as its COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine is available for adults aged 50 and older and is about 27% more effective than the standard-dose flu shot at preventing laboratory-confirmed illness.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, noted that the mRNA vaccine can be made faster, potentially making it easier to keep up with changing flu strains.
However, the new flu vaccine has caused some confusion among patients about who can get it, how it compares with traditional flu shots, and where people will be able to find it.
A spokesperson for AHIP, a trade group for health insurers, expects most private insurers to cover the vaccine, while Medicare is required to fully cover the cost of FDA-approved seasonal flu shots.
Despite the success, questions remain about the long-term effectiveness and quality of life for patients who received the vaccine.
The mRNA technology is opening new avenues for personalized cancer treatments, but a modernized regulatory approach is needed to keep pace with the science, according to Clay Alspach, executive director of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines.
What this adds
Shares of Moderna and Merck surged Wednesday after their Phase 3 melanoma trial met its primary endpoint, as previously reported by WarpBeat.
Background
Shares of Moderna and Merck surged Wednesday after their Phase 3 melanoma trial met its primary endpoint.
What's confirmed
- The intismeran vaccine, developed in collaboration with Merck, showed significant promise in a Phase 3 clinical trial involving 1,137 patients with high-risk melanoma. The trial found that the mRNA vaccine, when combined with pembrolizumab, reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death by 42 percent compared to pembrolizumab alone.
- Karen Knudsen, CEO of the nonprofit Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, praised the findings, calling them 'really encouraging.' She noted that the combination treatment could decrease the number of patients who have to deal with their melanoma coming back and reduce the need for additional treatments.
- The study, which is still blinded, has been accepted for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results indicate that the mRNA vaccine and pembrolizumab reduced the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body and of death by 38 percent over pembrolizumab alone.
- Meanwhile, Moderna also received FDA approval for its mFlusiva vaccine, which uses the same mRNA technology as its COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine is available for adults aged 50 and older and is about 27% more effective than the standard-dose flu shot at preventing laboratory-confirmed illness.
- Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, noted that the mRNA vaccine can be made faster, potentially making it easier to keep up with changing flu strains.
- However, the new flu vaccine has caused some confusion among patients about who can get it, how it compares with traditional flu shots, and where people will be able to find it.
- A spokesperson for AHIP, a trade group for health insurers, expects most private insurers to cover the vaccine, while Medicare is required to fully cover the cost of FDA-approved seasonal flu shots.
- Despite the success, questions remain about the long-term effectiveness and quality of life for patients who received the vaccine.
- The mRNA technology is opening new avenues for personalized cancer treatments, but a modernized regulatory approach is needed to keep pace with the science, according to Clay Alspach, executive director of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines.
What's still developing
- Test your knowledge with our new weekday mini crossword MADRID — Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel had every reason to be smiling and happy on a brilliantly sunny Saturday afternoon here in Spain’s capital.
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- The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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- “If you have not celebrated your 50th birthday, this vaccine should be of no interest to you,” said Emlah Tubuo, an independent pharmacist in Ohio.
- MFlusiva is reaching pharmacies without a formal recommendation from the CDC or its vaccine advisory committee, a step typically needed to require insurers to cover vaccines for free.
- Moderna’s mFlusiva is the first flu vaccine in the United States to use messenger RNA technology, the same platform used in Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid shots.
- Reiss said it remains unclear, however, how widely Medicaid will cover the new shot this season, as the program typically requires a formal recommendation from the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.
- As Scientific American previously reported, the Merck-Moderna clinical trial includes two treatments: a personalized mRNA-vaccine called intismeran autogene, which works by instructing the body on how to identify and fight cancer, and pembrolizumab (sold as Keytruda), a drug designed to prevent cancer from “hiding” from our immune system, according to Merck.
- But as of the day of the call, she feels "great,” she said.
- But the new findings are “really, really good milestones along the way,” she says.
- “It’s like a temporary instruction to your immune system to alert your body’s natural defense to recognize influenza,” Tubuo said.