The world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma halved patients’ risk of death or recurrence of the disease, in clinical trial results that doctors described as “highly impressive”.
According to 2020 figures from the World Cancer Research Fund International, more than 150,000 people worldwide are affected by melanoma each year.
Patients who received the vaccine after having stage three or four melanoma removed had a 49% reduced risk of death or recurrence three years later, according to data presented at the world’s largest cancer conference. The NHS is one of the organisations trialling the vaccine.
Patients in the Phase 2b trial had high-risk melanoma and were given the vaccine, developed by Moderna Inc. and Merck & Co., in combination with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, or Keytruda alone.
Delegates at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago heard that the 2.5-year recurrence-free survival rate with the vaccine plus Keytruda was 74.8 percent, compared with 55.6 percent with Keytruda alone.
“We are encouraged by the latest results,” said Kyle Hollen, head of development, therapeutics and oncology at Moderna. “These findings reinforce our commitment to advancing this innovative treatment.”
Ian Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said the findings were another milestone in an “exciting and evolving landscape of cancer vaccine research”.
“After three years of follow-up, the data suggest that there was no increased risk of cancer recurrence in patients with high-risk, advanced melanoma,” he said. “The findings highlight the great potential of therapeutic cancer vaccines used in combination with potent immunotherapy.”
The vaccine, known as mRNA-4157 (V940), is custom made for each patient and instructs their body to kill any remaining cancer cells and prevent the disease from recurring.
Tumor samples would be removed during surgery, then their DNA would be sequenced and artificial intelligence would be used to create a custom anti-cancer drug specific to the patient’s tumor.
A second trial led by the University of Vienna presented at ASCO found that cancer vaccination significantly improved survival for patients after breast cancer surgery.
The study involved 400 women with early-stage breast cancer, half of whom were given a vaccine to stimulate the immune system before surgery.
After seven years, 81% of vaccinated patients were alive and breast cancer-free, compared with 65% of patients who received standard treatment.
“This is the first time that a significant and significant long-term survival benefit of an anti-cancer vaccine has ever been reported in breast cancer patients,” said lead author Dr Christian Singer.
Professor Charles Swanton, chief clinical officer at Cancer Research UK, said the results of the melanoma trial were “highly impressive”.
“We’re very excited,” Swanton said, “This new vaccine approach is another piece of the puzzle that will hopefully enable us to cure more patients or reduce those who suffer recurrence of the disease, ultimately contributing to continued improvements in survival rates for decades to come and beyond.”
Thousands of patients in England are being fast-tracked into groundbreaking personalised cancer vaccine trials in a ground-breaking, life-saving NHS ‘matchmaking’ scheme.
