A New Cancer Vaccine Could Change How We Treat the Disease

A biotech company called Moderna announced exciting news on Wednesday about a new kind of cancer vaccine. The vaccine is made specifically for each patient and is designed to fight melanoma, a dangerous form of skin cancer. Scientists say the results from a large medical trial could change the way doctors treat cancer — not just melanoma, but possibly many other types as well.

The vaccine works by using messenger RNA, or mRNA — the same technology Moderna used to make its COVID-19 vaccine. Doctors look at the genetic makeup of a patient's tumor and then build a vaccine that teaches the body's immune system to attack those specific cancer cells. After a patient has surgery to remove the cancer, they receive this personalized vaccine along with another drug called Keytruda, made by a company called Merck.

The results of the trial were very promising. Patients who got both the mRNA vaccine and Keytruda went longer without their cancer coming back. They also went longer without new cancer spots appearing in other parts of their bodies, compared to patients who only got Keytruda. An earlier, smaller trial found that the combination cut the risk of cancer returning by 49 percent after five years.

Robert Langer, one of Moderna's founders and a professor at MIT, called the results a 'potential paradigm shift' for cancer treatment. A paradigm shift means a big change in the way people think about something. Langer helped develop the tiny particles that carry mRNA into the body. He said Moderna and Merck are now testing similar vaccines for other cancers, like lung cancer and bladder cancer.

The new trial included more than 1,000 patients, which makes the results even more meaningful to scientists. Phase 3 trials are the last big test a medicine must pass before a company can ask the government for approval to sell it. Dr. Catherine Wu, a cancer expert at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said Phase 3 trials are 'usually the signal of whether a field continues or dies.'

One of the most important things about this vaccine is that it is personalized. That means each vaccine is made just for one patient, based on that person's specific tumor. Dr. Wu explained that cancer cells can be hard to spot because they look a lot like normal cells — she said they have 'little cloaks of invisibility.' The new vaccine helps the immune system learn to recognize and attack those sneaky cancer cells.

Making a personalized vaccine is not easy or cheap, but scientists are confident the process will get faster over time. Dr. Wu said, 'I'm fully confident that our industry partners will solve that problem.' Analysts expect Moderna could win government approval to sell the melanoma therapy as soon as next year.

Doctors are also encouraged because the vaccine seems to have mild side effects. Patients in an earlier trial reported things like tiredness, mild fevers, and soreness at the injection site, and those problems usually went away within a few days. Dr. David McDermott, a cancer doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said it is important that the vaccine does not add serious risks on top of those already caused by Keytruda.

The news was also a big boost for Moderna as a business. The company struggled after the pandemic ended and faced political challenges, including when the U.S. government canceled a large contract for another vaccine. On Wednesday, Moderna's stock price nearly doubled, jumping from $63 to $153 in a single day. Analysts said the results show Moderna can now grow into a cancer treatment company, not just a vaccine maker.

Moderna used to call this treatment a 'vaccine,' but has recently started calling it a 'therapy' instead. Some experts say this is because the word 'vaccine' has become politically charged in recent years. Still, scientists remain confident in mRNA technology. Moderna founder Robert Langer said simply: 'Whether you look at Galileo or Copernicus, in the end, science wins.'