U.S.- An experimental vaccine against cancer based on mRNA developed by Moderna Inc and Merck & Co reduces to 44 per cient the risk of death or recurrence of the deadliest skin cancer, compared to Keytruda, Merck’s immunotherapy alone, informed US researchers at a medical meeting.
Los hallazgos suggest adding a personalized vaccine against cancer based on mRNA technology to Keytruda, which reactivates the immune response, could prolong the time that patients have without recurrence or death, says doctor Jeffrey Weber, from the Perlmutter Langone Oncological Center de la NYU, quien presentó los hallazgos.
“From the therapeutic point of view of cancer in general, this is a potentially important advance”, stated in a statement Dr. Ryan Sullivan, a melanoma expert at Mass General Cancer who worked in the studio.
The results, presented at the meeting of the American Association of Oncological Research held in Orlando (Florida), add data to the partial hallazgos published by the companies in December. Additional data will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting and published in an peer-reviewed journal.
The combined treatment has obtained the designation of innovative therapy in the United States and the PRIME plan of the European Medicines Agency, regulatory programs that intend to accelerate the development of innovative treatments.
The Merck/Moderna collaboration is one of several that combine potent drugs that activate the immune system against cancer with mRNA vaccine technology. BioNTech SE and Gritstone Bio Inc are working on competitive cancer vaccines based on mRNA technology.
The vaccine is made to measure based on the analysis of the patient’s tumors after surgical extirpation. The vaccines are designed to train the immune system to recognize and attack specific mutations in cancer cells.
Keytruda, by Merck, approved to treat melanoma and many other types of cancer, belongs to a class of widely used immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors, designed to deactivate the PD-1 protein, or programmed death 1, which helps cancer to evade the immune system.
