An experimental messenger RNA vaccine developed by the Moderna company has reduced the risk of cancer progression and mortality in people with metastatic melanoma receiving immunotherapy treatment, according to results of a clinical trial presented at the American Research Association meeting. of the Cancer that is celebrated in Orlando.
Created individually for each patient, Moderna's vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize and attack their tumor cells. Immunotherapy drugs, meanwhile, prevent tumor cells from hiding from the immune system. The expectation that these two therapies may be more effective together than separately has led the companies Moderna and MSD, which makes the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, to conduct a joint clinical trial involving 107 patients.
According to the results presented in Orlando, 40% of patients with metastatic melanoma who have received only the immunotherapy drug have relapsed or died within two years. Among the patients who have also received the messenger RNA vaccine, the percentage has dropped to 22%, just over half.
Following these results, Moderna and MSD plan to conduct a phase 3 clinical trial, with more patients, with the prospect that the combination of the vaccine and pembrolizumab will be approved for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. In addition, they plan to expand clinical trials to lung cancer and other types of tumors that respond to immunotherapy, both companies have reported in a statement.
The preliminary results of the clinical trial have led the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to consider the treatment in its Prime category (acronym in English for priority medicine). This will make it easier for the combination of Moderna's vaccine and MSD's drug to reach patients soon if its efficacy and safety are confirmed as clinical trials provide more data.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has defined it as breakthrough therapy, a category for which there is no proper translation but which is equivalent to the European Prime.
Also the company BioNTech develops therapeutic vaccines against cancer based on the same strategy as those of Moderna. Both BioNTech and Moderna were founded with the aim of applying messenger RNA to cancer treatment and later took advantage of this technology to produce covid vaccines.
In the case of cancer, the vaccine must be individualized for each patient. First, the genome of their tumor cells is analysed. From there, specific cancer proteins are sought that are good candidates for stimulating the immune system. Then, using messenger RNA technology, cells that make these proteins are produced in the laboratory. Finally, these cells are administered to the patient so that her immune system learns to recognize and attack the tumor.
“The observed long survival in recurrence-free survival suggests that this [vaccine and immunotherapy drug] combination may be a new way to extend the lives of high-risk melanoma patients. We look forward to starting the phase 3 clinical trial soon and expanding the trials to lung cancer and other tumors,” said Kyle Holden, vice president of Moderna, in a joint statement with MSD.
