Moderna shares rocketed higher Wednesday morning after the biotech company reported encouraging results for an experimental mRNA-based melanoma vaccine, a potential new treatment for the aggressive skin cancer expected to claim more than 8,500 lives in the U.S. this year.
Moderna and Merck, its drug development partner, said the novel treatment prevented melanoma from returning or spreading in a study of high-risk melanoma patients.
The market reaction was swift: Moderna’s stock jumped $91.52, or 145%, to $154.48 in morning trading after climbing as high as $163 earlier in the session. Shares of Merck also advanced, rising $14.35, or 10.6%, to $149.52.
The clinical trial enrolled patients who had already undergone surgery to remove melanoma and evaluated whether the treatment could lower the chances of the cancer coming back.
Researchers tested Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine, intismeran, alongside Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy drug Keytruda. According to the companies, the combination helped patients stay cancer-free for a longer period and reduced the risk of the disease spreading to other parts of the body.
Moderna and Merck said they plan to share the still-unpublished findings with regulators and present the data at an upcoming international medical conference.
“Landmark moment”
“Today’s results represent a landmark moment for adjuvant melanoma treatment,” Professor Georgina Long, the trial’s principal investigator and chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of Sydney, said in a statement Wednesday.
Long noted that the study marks the first time a treatment of this type has shown it can “reduce the risk of recurrence or death in patients” diagnosed with melanoma.
She added that the findings could help reshape the standard of care after melanoma surgery, potentially giving patients a better chance of remaining cancer-free for longer.
More than 234,680 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2026, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Among the deadliest forms of skin cancer, melanoma starts in melanocytes, the cells that give the skin its color. Melanoma is characterized by the uncontrollable growth of these cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“By intervening earlier in the course of disease, when many cancers are considered most treatable, the goal of adjuvant therapy given after surgery is to increase the possibility of cure for more patients,” Dr. Dean Y. Li, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement.
The findings amount to a “pivotal moment for the field of cancer research,” added Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. “For many years, the idea of creating an mRNA treatment designed specifically for an individual patient’s cancer was aspirational. We are now helping turn that vision into a reality.”
Moderna shares are still far from their pandemic-era peak in late 2021 and 2022, when its stock soared on global demand for its COVID-19 vaccine.
Aimee Picchi
