Merck, Moderna Win Phase III Melanoma Trial in 1,137 Patients, Advancing Personalized mRNA Vaccines
Updated
Updated · Oncodaily · Sep 19
Merck, Moderna Win Phase III Melanoma Trial in 1,137 Patients, Advancing Personalized mRNA Vaccines
3 articles · Updated · Oncodaily · Sep 19
Summary
INTerpath-001 met both its primary recurrence-free survival endpoint and key secondary distant metastasis-free survival endpoint in resected high-risk melanoma, marking a rare phase III success for a personalized cancer vaccine.
The global trial enrolled 1,137 patients and tested intismeran autogene plus pembrolizumab against pembrolizumab alone, with Merck and Moderna reporting no new safety signals in the combination arm.
The vaccine is built from each patient’s tumor mutations and can encode up to 34 neoantigens, using mRNA to train T cells against targets unique to malignant cells rather than shared self-antigens.
The result builds on earlier melanoma phase II data showing a 49% relative reduction in recurrence or death risk and strengthens the case that personalized vaccines may work best after surgery, when residual disease is minimal.
Detailed hazard ratios, absolute benefit and subgroup data have not yet been released, while overall survival follow-up continues and the next test is whether the approach can extend beyond melanoma into harder-to-treat cancers.