Moderna and Merck have released top-line results from a Phase 3 trial showing their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran, combined with Keytruda significantly improves survival for melanoma patients. After two years, participants receiving the intismeran-Keytruda treatment had a 42 percent reduction in the risk of recurrence or death compared to those receiving Keytruda and a placebo. The trial assessed recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival, with 82 percent of the treatment group alive without recurrence versus 70 percent in the control group.
For distant metastasis-free survival, the treatment reduced risk by 38 percent, with 88.5 percent of patients alive without distant metastasis compared to 80 percent in the control group. While the effect was less pronounced than in a prior five-year Phase 2 trial showing 49 percent and 59 percent reductions respectively, the findings represent a clinically meaningful improvement in the adjuvant setting. Dean Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, called the results "one of the most significant advances in melanoma treatment since the advent of immunotherapy," setting a new benchmark for resected melanoma patients.
The Phase 3 trial is the first to demonstrate such improvements over standard-of-care Keytruda.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing