Moderna and Merck shares surge after melanoma vaccine success

Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.HomeInvestorModerna and Merck shares surge after melanoma vaccine successModerna shares more than doubled and set an intraday record while Merck climbed more than 10 per cent Wednesday, though questions remainAuthor of the article:Robert Langreth and Madison MullerLast updated 46 minutes ago The two companies have been working on the science behind the vaccine, called intismeran autogene, for more than a decade. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesA personalized vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. helped reduce the recurrence of melanoma in a large, late-stage trial, raising expectations for treating the deadliest form of skin cancer and showing the promise of the embattled mRNA technology.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountThe trial met its main goal of showing that the vaccine, combined with Merck’s immune drug Keytruda, reduced melanoma recurrences more than the immunotherapy alone. It also slowed the cancer’s spread to new areas of the body, the companies said in a statement Wednesday.Moderna shares more than doubled and set an intraday record, though the stock remains well short of its COVID-era highs. Merck climbed more than 10 per cent as of 10 a.m. in New York.Canada's best source for investing news, analysis and insight.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Investor will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThe study, the first positive final-stage trial for any mRNA-based cancer therapy, is a welcome development for both companies. It provides the strongest evidence yet that the technology that made Moderna a household name during the pandemic will have a successful second act. For Merck, facing a patent loss for its best-selling drug Keytruda, it offers a key new market for future growth.“It is an important step forward for the field of cancer immunotherapy, more specially for cancer vaccines, which have had a long but relatively unsuccessful track record until now,” said Jedd Wolchok, a melanoma expert and director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, in an email. It shows that training the immune system to recognize specific cancer targets can enhance the benefits of existing immune drugs, he said.Details on how much the shot improved recurrence-free survival — the amount of time a patient lives without their cancer coming back — weren’t released. The trial remains ongoing to assess whether patients who get the vaccine live longer.Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. In the United States, roughly 112,000 people are diagnosed with it each year and about 8,500 people die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.The companies will discuss filing for approval with regulators and will present the data at an upcoming medical meeting, according to the statement. In an interview, Moderna chief executive Stéphane Bancel said the product could be approved as soon as 2027, depending on the outcome of the regulatory review.“It is an extraordinary milestone for mRNA science,” Bancel said.Still, questions remain about the cost and feasibility of producing such bespoke cancer treatments at scale. And the companies will need to prove that the vaccine works in other tumour types beyond melanoma in order to generate truly large sales.The worldwide market for drugs to treat operable melanoma cases is about US$2.3 billion a year now, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Max Nisen said in an email.“I am not sure this is a blockbuster indication on its own and if it ever gets there, it’ll be barely,” he said, speaking specifically about its use in melanoma. If it works in other tumour types, like lung cancer, sales could be much larger, he said.This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.The two companies have been working on the science behind the vaccine, called intismeran autogene, for more than a decade. Developed using the messenger RNA technology that powered Moderna’s COVID-19 shot, the companies customize each shot based on a patient’s specific tumour mutations.It takes about six weeks to make the shot. Scientists take a sample of the patient’s tumour, either from existing tissue or a new biopsy, and analyze it for mutations.An algorithm identifies which are most likely to provoke an immune response, and as many as 34 of them are used to produced the personalized vaccine, said Jane Healy, head of oncology early development at Merck. During that waiting period, patients continue to receive Keytruda.In the trial, which enrolled more than 1,100 patients, the mRNA vaccine was given in combination with Merck’s Keytruda to patients after their tumours were surgically removed. A control group was given Keytruda alone, a standard treatment used to prevent recurrence in patients at risk.The goal is for the two drugs to work together to train the body’s immune system to attack any remaining cancer cells.Moderna’s stock had shot up 113 per cent from the beginning of the year through Tuesday’s close on the prospects of the cancer shot. The melanoma trial was seen as a crucial early test of how well the approach would work. Merck and Moderna are testing it in other types of cancer, including lung cancer, but the melanoma studies are the furthest along.Scientists have long chased the idea of a vaccine that could turn the body’s own defences against cancer, teaching the immune system to recognize a tumour’s molecular fingerprints and destroy the cells that remain. But, until now, it’s proven very difficult to get them to work.“Therapeutic vaccines have been something of a holy grail in cancer. People have been trying to do this for, you know, over 100 years in one way or another,” Healy said in an interview several weeks before the results were released. She said one potential benefit of such a shot would be extending survival without adding many more side effects.The companies said earlier this year that skin cancer patients in a mid-stage trial who got the mRNA shot with Keytruda were 49 per cent less likely to die or have their cancer return after five years than those who received Keytruda alone.—With assistance from Frank Connelly.We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.