According to a recent BBC article, researchers from Moderna and MSD have successfully completed a phase-IIb randomized clinical trial for a personalized cancer vaccine. The vaccine uses messenger-RNA technology, similar to the Covid-19 vaccine, and is designed to prime the immune system to attack cancer cells. In the trial of 157 patients taking Keytruda for advanced melanoma, the vaccine was found to reduce the risk of death or cancer progression by 44%. The vaccine is highly personalized, tailored to match each patient's cancer, and is very expensive to make, but it is a significant development in the field of cancer treatment.
Experts are optimistic about the potential of the vaccine as a new paradigm in the treatment of cancer. Professor Alan Melcher from The Institute of Cancer Research says that the results show the feasibility of making and delivering personalized vaccines to treat cancer and can add benefit to current treatments. Dr. Sam Godfrey says that the science that helped combat the pandemic could provide another powerful treatment option for cancer. Further trials will be needed to determine the vaccine's efficacy, but early results are promising and likely to have important implications for metastatic cancer patients.
