Moderna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) saw its shares rise by almost 20% overnight after an experimental cancer vaccine based on its messenger RNA (MRNA) technology boosted survival rates by over 40% in a trial.
Shares in pharma companies working on other mRNA-based therapies also jumped on the news with Moderna boss Paul Burton saying the results had “the capacity to be a new paradigm in the treatment of cancer."
In the skin cancer trial, a combination of the vaccine with Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy drug Keytruda cut the recurrence of deaths by 44% compared to treatment with the drug alone, a result classified as a "statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement."
The companies said it was the first time that personalised mRNA vaccine technology combined with an immunotherapy drug had produced such a strong response in random patients.
"It's a tremendous step forward in immunotherapy," said Eliav Barr, Merck's head of global clinical development and chief medical officer in a statement.
Some 157 patients with stage III/IV melanoma took part in the trial with their tumours surgically removed before being treated with either the drug/vaccine combination or Keytruda alone.
Keytruda is a 'checkpoint inhibitor 'designed to allow the body’s own defences to identify PD-1 or 'death 1', a protein that helps cancer tumours camouflage themselves to evade the immune system.
In the trial, samples of the tumours and healthy tissue were decoded to identify their genetic sequence and isolate the cancer proteins.
Once the tumour cells are identified, the vaccine produces copies ‘personalised’ for the patient that are re-injected to allow the body’s own killer T-cells to recognise and destroy them.
Merck's head of global clinical development and chief medical officer noted that Merck and Moderna intend to experiment with combinations in other areas of cancer such as lung, bladder and breast.
“In general, I think cancer vaccines are at a tipping point, and there are going to probably be a lot of vaccines coming down the pipeline in the next five years,” Dr Mary Lenora Disis, director of the UW Medicine Cancer Vaccine Institute in Seattle told Reuters.
Rivals pushing ahead with their own versions of personalised cancer vaccines include BioNTech, which has several mRNA-personalised vaccines in train including a combination with Roche's Tecentriq in patients with pancreatic cancer, a disease that is notoriously hard to treat.
Gritstone also has a trial underway in combination ongoing combination with Bristol Myers immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy.
Moderna shares closed up 19% at US$197 on Tuesday, while Gritstone share jumped by a fifth to US$3.11.