American pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck are making progress toward getting a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine approved in the US. The candidate, intismeran (intismeran autogene), showed promising results in a phase III clinical trial for melanoma. In the study, the vaccine — which is created individually for each patient after tumor removal — combined with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda reduced the risk of recurrence and spread of the disease compared to Keytruda alone. This marks a significant milestone: it’s the first successful trial of a therapeutic cancer vaccine at a late stage of development in over 100 years. The companies are now preparing to submit the data to the FDA, with approval potentially coming in 2027.
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