Moderna Inc (MRNA)

[axelvento]

The study enrolled melanoma patients who had undergone surgery to remove any signs of their cancer. Unlike vaccines the public is used to taking — mass-produced shots that aim to prevent people from catching a contagious disease like the flu or polio, Moderna’s cancer vaccine instead is intended to keep the disease from returning. It does that by training immune cells to recognize as dangerous proteins found on a patient’s own tumor cells.

Stephane Bancel told CNBC recently that the company is moving aggressively into Phase 3 studies with the belief that “anywhere Keytruda works, this should work.”

Keytruda, meanwhile, is approved to treat a long list of cancers beyond melanoma—so many, in fact, that it’s expected to bring in more than $24 billion in sales in 2023. Bancel suggested that the vaccine might even make possible responses in tumors where Keytruda has failed, either on its own or by acting synergistically with Merck’s drug.

Another immense challenge is the very high likely cost of a personalized therapy on top of Keytruda, which on its own carries a list price of around $185,000 per year. The only upside to that hefty price tag is that the companies will be motivated to answer these questions as quickly as possible. Indeed, Bancel has said that Moderna plans to aggressively invest in cancer.

So let's see what happens with this Beast.