Moderna cancer vaccine used with Merck Keytruda reduces risk of deadly skin cancer spreading

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Modernused in combination with experimental cancer vaccines of merckKeytruda, reduced the risk of the most deadly form of skin cancer According to midstage, spread to other parts of the body in clinical trials testing Results published on Monday.

Moderna’s cancer vaccine reduced the risk melanoma spread to other parts of the body or 65% of patients with stage III or IV die Disease Compared with patients receiving the Merck immunotherapy treatment alone, the trial found.

Moderna and Merck will present the data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference in Chicago at 5 p.m. ET.

The clinical trial enrolled 157 patients whose cancer had been surgically removed.

Patients in the treatment group received a total of nine doses of 1 mg injections of Moderna’s vaccine every three weeks and 200 mg intravenous injections of Keytruda every three weeks for approximately one year.

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According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma is responsible for the majority of skin cancer deaths. According to the society, melanoma rates have risen sharply over the past few decades.

According to the society, about 100,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma in the US this year and about 8,000 are expected to die from it.

The data published Monday are the latest promising results from Moderna and Merck.

The companies published data in April showing that Moderna’s cancer vaccine in combination with Keytruda reduced the risk of melanoma recurring by 44% compared with patients receiving Merck’s immunotherapy treatment alone.

The Food and Drug Administration granted Moderna and Merck a breakthrough therapy designation in February, aimed at speeding the development and review of treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases.