Moderna and Merck’s experimental cancer vaccine, used in combination with Merck’s Keytruda, reduced the risk of the most deadly form of skin cancer spreading to other parts of the body in a clinical trial, according to the midstage trial results published earlier this month.
Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma spreading to other parts of the body or death by 65% in patients with stage 3 or 4 of the disease compared with patients who received Merck’s immunotherapy treatment alone, the trial has found.
The clinical trial has enrolled 157 patients who have had their cancer surgically removed.
Patients in the treatment group receive 1 milligram injections of the vaccine every three weeks for nine total doses and 200 mg intravenous infusions of Keytruda every three weeks for about a year.
Melanoma is responsible for the large majority of skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. The rate of melanoma has increased rapidly over the past few decades, according to the society.
About 100,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma in the U.S. this year and nearly 8,000 people are expected to die from the disease, according to the society.
The data published is the latest promising results from Moderna and Merck.
