Moderna cancer vaccine stops melanoma returning: what comes next for personalised treatments

Hub Director Associate Professor Seth Cheetham provided expert comment to Nature on Phase III results for intismeran, the personalised mRNA cancer vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck, which reduced the risk of melanoma returning in patients at high risk of recurrence.

He described the result as the first large-scale trial to report data for a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine, and a finding that strengthens confidence across the whole field rather than in one product alone.

A personalised vaccine of this kind is built from the mutations found in an individual patient's tumour. The sequence is designed after the tumour is sequenced, manufactured for that patient, and given so that the immune system learns to recognise cancer cells carrying those specific changes.

The same design and manufacture steps sit at the centre of the Hub's work, including the personalised vaccines being prepared for Australian trials.

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