Moderna’s cancer vaccine clears phase 3
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The candidate is a combination of an mRNA therapeutic vaccine and Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda.
By Ellyn Vohnoutka HealthDay ReporterTHURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) — An experimental vaccine kept melanoma from returning or spreading in people at high risk of the skin cancer coming back, drugmakers Moderna and Merck announced Wednesday.
Adding the cancer vaccine intismeran autogene to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) significantly improved recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival in a phase III trial of completely resected melanoma, Merck and Moderna announced.
The story has been refreshed with the latest market price action and a revised headline. Elon Musk said Wednesday that mRNA technology could fundamentally change how diseases are treated, a shift that would make medicine more of
Moderna shares jumped this week after the company announced encouraging results from a late-stage melanoma trial.
University Hospitals and Celloram are advancing Protexi, a platform that redirects antiviral immune memory from COVID-19 toward fighting tumors, with sarcoma trials planned.