Cancer Vaccine Produces 49% Melanoma Reduction in Patients Five Years Later

Key Points:

• A new study led by NYU researchers shows that combining the personalized mRNA vaccine intismeran with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab reduces the risk of melanoma recurrence and death by 49% five years after surgery compared to pembrolizumab alone.
• In the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 trial involving 157 melanoma patients, 68.8% of those receiving the combination therapy remained cancer-free after five years, versus 49.1% in the pembrolizumab-only group, with overall survival rates of 92.2% and 71.3%, respectively.
• Intismeran is tailored to each patient’s tumor by targeting specific neoantigens to stimulate T cell responses, enhancing the immune system’s ability to attack melanoma cells that evade standard immunotherapy.
• The combination therapy also reduced the risk of distant metastasis by 59%, and side effects were manageable, including fatigue and injection site pain.
• A phase 3 trial is underway to further assess intismeran as a first-line treatment with pembrolizumab for melanoma, and the vaccine is being tested for preventing recurrence in lung and other cancers.