Neoantigens Part III: Picking up the pace
The field ends a busy 4Q22 with Moderna’s highly anticipated, heavily scrutinized data
A controversial data announcement from Moderna and Merck capped a string of late 4Q22 readouts for neoantigen-based cancer therapies. Other updates included promising signals in checkpoint-resistant bulky tumors, and a cell therapy manufacturing improvement that boosted dosing capacity more than fivefold.
Shares of Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) rose 27% to $208.95 in the two trading sessions after the company reported its personalized neoantigen cancer vaccine mRNA-4157/V940 plus Keytruda pembrolizumab from partner Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) reduced the risk of recurrence 44% in patients with completely resected melanoma, compared with Keytruda alone. The company reported a hazard ratio of 0.56 (95% CI 0.31-1.08), and a one-sided p-value of 0.0266...