‘Extremely impressive’: melanoma jab trial results excite doctors

The world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma halves the risk of patients dying or the disease returning, according to trial results that doctors described as “extremely impressive”.

Melanoma affects more than 150,000 people a year globally, according to 2020 figures from World Cancer Research Fund International.

Patients who received the vaccine after having a stage 3 or 4 melanoma removed had a 49 per cent lower risk of dying or the disease recurring after three years, data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference showed.

Known as mRNA-4157 (V940), the jab is custom-built for each patient and tells their body to kill any remaining cancer cells and prevent the disease coming back. MRNA vaccines teach a person’s body how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response, without using a live virus.

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A sample of tumour is removed during the patient’s surgery, followed by DNA sequencing and the use of artificial intelligence. The result is a custom-built anticancer jab specific to the patient’s tumour.

The NHS in the UK is among the organisations testing the jab.

A primary investigator on the study, oncologist Prof Georgina Long, said the average risk of recurrence after surgery for the cohort of advanced cancer patients was 50 per cent.

“Although we do need to look at the five and 10-year numbers, most of the risk of recurrence in this group occurs in that first two years,” Prof Long said.

The 157 patients in the phase 2b trial had high-risk melanomas and either had the jab, developed by Moderna and Merck, alongside the immunotherapy Keytruda or were given only Keytruda.

The vaccine and the Keytruda brought the risk of recurrence down to 25 per cent, Prof Long said. However, she cautioned the results were a “signal” with a larger trial needed to evaluate the true impact better.

The 2.5-year recurrence-free survival rate for the jab in combination with Keytruda was 74.8 per cent, compared with 55.6 per cent for Keytruda alone, delegates at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago heard.

“We are encouraged by the latest results,” said Kyle Holen, Moderna’s head of development, therapeutics and oncology. “These findings reinforce our commitment to advancing this innovative treatment.”

A second trial presented at ASCO, led by the University of Vienna, found cancer jabs can significantly improve survival for breast cancer patients after surgery.

The study involved 400 patients with early stage breast cancer. Half were given a vaccine to stimulate their immune system before surgery.

After seven years, 81 per cent of patients who had the vaccine were still alive and free of breast cancer, compared with 65 per cent of those who had received standard care.

The lead author, Dr Christian Singer, said: “This is the first significant and profound long-term survival benefit of an anticancer vaccine in breast cancer patients reported to date.” – Guardian