mRNA cancer vaccine succeeds for people with high-risk melanoma

“A personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for people with high-risk melanoma has succeeded in a large Phase 3 trial. The treatment, developed by Moderna and Merck, is individually designed from mutations found in each patient’s tumor and trains the immune system to recognize and attack their cancer. The companies have not yet released the full results from the Phase 3 trial. But in earlier Phase 2 results, the vaccine—combined with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda—reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 49 percent over five years versus Keytruda alone,” reports The Doomslayer.

The New York Times reports:

“An experimental mRNA vaccine allowed people with high-risk melanoma to live longer, cancer-free, the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck announced Wednesday.

For decades, cancer vaccines have been one of the most tantalizing ideas in cancer treatment — offering the hope of harnessing a person’s own immune system to attack tumors…

In the late-stage trial of 1,137 people with high-risk melanoma who underwent surgery to have their cancer removed, those who received the personalized cancer vaccine, called intismeran, along with an immunotherapy drug called Keytruda were less likely to see their cancer recur or spread compared with those who received just Keytruda.

Scientists create intismeran by sequencing the patient’s tumor and selecting what are called ‘neoantigens,’ which teach the immune system how to attack the cancer. They use the fast, flexible mRNA technology to create a vaccine with neoantigens selected for each patient — a process that takes about six weeks.”

A cancer vaccine for dogs doubles their survival rate for certain types of cancer.

A child recently was cured of a type of brain cancer that previously always killed kids who had it.

Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells to repair damaged cells. Nanorobots are also being used to fight cancer: “In a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University scientists…have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.”

In other news, the FDA has approved a breakthrough drug to treat advanced pancreatic cancer.

An mRNA vaccine saves the lives of pancreatic cancer patients, but it has yet to be approved by the FDA. A cancer researcher recently home-brewed a beer that works as a vaccine.

The fact that a life-saving test is developed doesn’t mean it will be available to the public quickly. Many people die waiting for the FDA to approve medical tests and life-saving drugs. The FDA can be rather slow. The FDA didn’t approve a home test for HIV until 24 years after it first received an application. According to an FDA advisory committee, the test held “the potential to prevent the transmission of more than 4,000 new HIV infections in its first year of use alone.” That means thousands of people likely got infected with AIDS as a result of the delay in approving it.