A personalised melanoma vaccine has extended cancer-free time in high-risk patients when combined with Keytruda, according to interim trial results.
The phase three trial involved more than 1,000 patients with high-risk stage two, three or four melanoma who had undergone surgery.
Early results indicate that combining the vaccine with Keytruda significantly increased the time patients remained cancer free and reduced the risk of the disease spreading to other organs compared with Keytruda alone.
Prof Peter Johnson, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, told the BBC’s Today Programme: “Most of the cancer immune treatments we have been using up til now have been about cutting the immune system loose and hoping that it recognises the cancer.
“This [new treatment] is a way to direct it very specifically.
“It feels like it’s a very important advance for us.”
He said the NHS was preparing to bring this type of treatment to patients.
However, it would first need to complete the trials process, secure regulatory approval and undergo a further approval process before becoming available on the NHS.
The vaccine, called Intismeran, was developed by Merck & Co, known as MSD in Europe, and Moderna. The companies said it is not yet clear how long the improvement in cancer-free survival lasts.
Full results have not yet been released or peer-reviewed, meaning they have not been independently assessed by other experts.
Intismeran is designed specifically for an individual patient’s tumour. Scientists surgically remove a small part of the tumour and sequence its DNA to identify mutations in the cancer cells.
The vaccine uses mRNA technology, also used in some Covid-19 vaccines, to target those mutations and instruct the immune system to recognise and attack tumour cells that remain.
Keytruda is an immunotherapy drug already used in cancer treatment.
Dr Talisia Quallo, head of prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK, said the research “shows promise” but stressed that the interim data still needs to be fully reviewed.
“It’s vital that research like this continues to be funded so that more people with cancer can have personalised treatment options to help them live longer, better lives.”
Dr Lennard Lee, a consultant medical oncologist and associate professor at the University of Oxford, said: “This is certainly good news for patients with melanoma, but the study has much wider implications. It provides proof of principle that personalised cancer vaccines work.”
Moderna and Merck are also testing similar personalised vaccines for lung, bladder and kidney cancers.
More detailed findings from the study will be presented at a medical conference in October.
