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Moderna reports first positive Phase 3 for mRNA neoantigen therapy in melanoma

339 pointsby heydenberktoday at 1:33 PM135 commentsview on HN

Comments

GenerWorktoday at 1:58 PM

This is great news! I think people forget how anti-skin cancer protocols even as simple as applying suntan lotion weren't as popular as recent as 50-60 years ago. Lots of "sun children" of the 50s and 60s are now feeling the repercussions of only applying baby oil and are getting hit with lots of melanoma.

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amlutotoday at 3:40 PM

Substantially better link:

https://www.merck.com/news/merck-and-moderna-announce-phase-...

Still no actual Phase 3 data presented.

hummusciencetoday at 5:01 PM

My father is currently dying of malignant melanoma with brain metastasis...

I wish this treatment was available a few years ago.

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consumer451today at 2:09 PM

This appears to be a potentially huge win for health. The market has Moderna up 153% at time of writing, which is some sort of validation I suppose.

Related stories:

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/merck-and-modernas-per...

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/merck-moderna-say-m...

https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/moderna-merck-vaccine-succ...

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danjltoday at 3:53 PM

Will this targeted approach be beneficial to other cancer types? Is there any data or theory about this class of drugs as a more general therapy?

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kinj28today at 5:26 PM

My father has gastric melonama and pretty much last few days left — does someone with knowledge know if this vaccine can be of any help? Or any registry available?

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nearbyyaktoday at 2:51 PM

Huge, uplifting, news, hope the study will bear further fruit. Considering that 90% of all clinical trials fail, it's good to read about a truly promising one for once.

MartinMondtoday at 2:09 PM

I listened to a great podcast on this just a month ago - too bad that I thought all of this would obviously be priced in already… https://virological.podigee.io/51-21-cancer-vaccines-how-the...

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epistasistoday at 1:59 PM

Ever since I first heard of them a decade ago, it seemed that mRNA therapeutic vaccines were going to be the next wave of massive improvements in care. It's taken a bit longer than I had expected, and it's not that mRNA is the only way to make these sorts of vaccines, it's just so much better than the alternatives.

I'm very very excited to see what comes next.

ricardobayestoday at 3:52 PM

According to Gemini, Moderna uses machine learning to speed up sequence selection and mRNA optimization. After all, this is not a mass-produced vaccine, but a personalized one.

Noaiditoday at 3:24 PM

I for one would like to see the data rather than a press release. Is this even serious? A press release with no link to outside twitter?

I feel like everything companies, and presidents, say now is directly geared to triggering AI trades.

The only thing they are looking at with this drug is people living one more month over existing drugs.

THIS IS NOTHING.

"The median PFS (progression-free survival) for KEYTRUDA was 5.5 months (2-week group) and 4.1 months (3-week group) compared to 2.8 months for ipilimumab (HR 0.58, P<0.00001 for the KEYTRUDA groups vs. ipilimumab,"

https://www.merck.com/news/keytruda-pembrolizumab-mercks-ant...

The median PFS (progression-free survival) for KEYTRUDA was 5.5 months (2-week group) and 4.1 months (3-week group) compared to 2.8 months for ipilimumab (HR 0.58, P<0.00001 for the KEYTRUDA groups vs. ipilimumab, 95% CI, 0.46-0.72 for 2-week group and 0.47-0.72 for 3-week group, respectively). The estimated 6-month PFS rates for the KEYTRUDA and ipilimumab arms were 47.3 percent, 46.4 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively. One-year OS for KEYTRUDA was 74.1 percent (2-week group) and 68.4 percent (3-week group) compared to 58.2 percent for ipilimumab (HR 0.63 [95% CI, 0.47-0.83, P=0.00052] for the 2-week group and HR 0.69 [95% CI, 0.52-0.90, P=0.00358] for the 3-week group). At the time of analysis, median overall survival was not reached in any treatment group.

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toephu2today at 5:04 PM

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jaumesntstoday at 3:25 PM

[dead]

jambalaya8today at 1:55 PM

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reenoraptoday at 2:24 PM

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attila-lendvaitoday at 3:57 PM

/me shakes head in disbelief and closes the tab

hungryhobbittoday at 3:53 PM

There are a zillion news sources for this: OP what would possess you to pick the (largely dead) right wing Musk-owned Twitter ("X" )?

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grokcodectoday at 3:51 PM

In other news, your barber thinks you need a haircut. Until there is a proven net overall health benefit to this therapy, I wouldn't waste much ink on it. Also, can someone please tell me how one controls the dose for an mRNA therapy ?

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Taikhoom10today at 4:12 PM

Yeah while a positive step, I do not understand a 90% stock increase.

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