New vaccine prevents deadliest skin cancer from coming back: drugmakers

A vaccine has been shown to help keep melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, from coming back in patients at higher risk of recurrence, the drug makers said.About 112,000 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed this year in the US.More than 8,500 are expected to die from this cancer in 2026.Intismeran autogene, made by Moderna, could eventually save lives by helping keep cancer under control in more patients.The new drug was tested with Keytruda (aka pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy made by Merck) in phase 3 trials, the final major stage of testing before a drug can be submitted to the FDA for approval.The companies said this is the first positive phase 3 result for a personalized cancer vaccine and shows “meaningful improvement” over treatment with Keytruda alone, which has been used for more than a decade in cancer care.The results mark a step forward in the effort to treat not just melanoma but other forms of cancer with vaccines designed to help keep patients disease-free.With intismeran and Keytruda together, researchers found that patients with later-stage melanoma (stage 2B up to stage 4) went longer without their cancer returning and without it spreading to distant parts of the body.The new drug is an mRNA vaccine, like the vaccines used for COVID-19.

These work by giving the body instructions on how to identify and fight a disease.Unlike the COVID vaccine, intismeran is personalized.This means each vaccine has information that’s unique to a patient’s specific cancer.

It works by teaching the immune system what to look for so it can better find and destroy the cancer on its own.This has benefits over treatments such as chemotherapy, which can launch a broad attack on both healthy and cancerous cells.Cancer vaccines like intismeran are designed to be more targeted, giving immune system specific information about the cancer so it can continue to recognize and attack it.This is especially important for later-stage melanoma patients, who have a much...