ESMO: Adding mRNA-Based Cancer Vaccine Beneficial in Melanoma

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, to pembrolizumab is associated with a reduced risk for recurrence or death for patients with surgically resected stage IIB to IV cutaneous melanoma, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, held from Oct. 23 to 27 in Madrid.Georgina Long, Ph.D., M.B.B.S., from the Melanoma Institute Australia in Wollstonecraft, and colleagues randomly assigned 1,137 eligible adults with surgically resected stage IIB/IIC or III/IV cutaneous melanoma to pembrolizumab 400 mg plus either intismeran 1 mg (757 patients) or placebo (380 patients). Patients were followed for a median of 24.6 months.The researchers found that adding intismeran yielded a significant improvement in recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio, 0.58); at 24 months, recurrence-free survival was 82.2 versus 70.0 percent for intismeran versus placebo. Intismeran was also associated with significantly improved distant metastasis-free survival (hazard ratio, 0.62). Similar benefits were seen for those with stage IIB/IIC and those with stage III/IV. Grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 23.6 and 20.3 percent of patients receiving intismeran and placebo, respectively, with pyrexia, injection site pain, and fatigue being the most common adverse events."This is the first phase 3 study to show that a treatment built from the unique 'fingerprint' of a patient's own tumor can reduce the risk of recurrence or death from cancer," Long said in a statement. "That fingerprint is read by sequencing the tumor, then a 'wanted poster' of the cancer is made as mRNA, showing the immune system exactly what to look for and attack."The study was funded by Merck and Moderna.Press ReleaseMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

ESMO: Adding mRNA-Based Cancer Vaccine Beneficial in Melanoma

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