Moderna Reports Positive Results from Cancer Vaccine Trial

Moderna has released promising early results from a small phase 1 trial of its experimental personalized cancer vaccine, mRNA-4157, in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

The study enrolled 10 patients with human papillomavirus- (HPV) negative head and neck cancer and 17 colorectal cancer patients. The combination of mRNA-4157 and Keytruda was “well-tolerated at all dose levels” and induced tumor shrinkage in the head and neck cancer group, but no response in the colorectal cancer patients, the Cambridge, Mass., drugmaker said.

Moderna says it plans to expand enrollment for HPV-negative head and neck cancer patients.