Moderna Shares Nearly Triple on Skin Cancer Vaccine Success
By Patrick Temple-West in New York and Stefania Palma in London
Drugmaker’s melanoma shot developed with Merck delivers positive outcome in late-stage trial.
Shares in US vaccine maker Moderna nearly tripled after the company reported successful trial results for an experimental skin cancer therapy.
The experimental therapy, jointly developed with Merck, would be unprecedented in cancer treatment, providing a custom-made vaccine for each patient depending on their specific tumours. Analysts expect US regulatory approval next year.
“Today’s results represent a landmark moment for adjuvant melanoma treatment,” said Professor Georgina Long, the study’s principal investigator and medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia.
The results of the trial boosted Moderna’s share price by 177 per cent in New York, adding $44bn to its market capitalisation and taking it to $69.6bn. With its share price surge, Moderna became the second-best performer in the S&P 500 index so far in 2026, trailing only memory group Sandisk.
The Massachusetts-based company has been a leader in messenger RNA technology (mRNA), which teaches the body’s immune system to identify and attack illnesses such as Covid-19.
Moderna is hoping to develop the experimental vaccine technology to treat different types and stages of cancer. It hailed the results as an important milestone towards vaccinating patients with the disease.
The company’s mRNA cancer shot would be given to a patient who has already been diagnosed with melanoma and is designed specifically to attack their tumour.
“We have started to demonstrate the potential of an entirely new class of medicine — and an entirely new way of thinking about cancer care: using the information encoded within an individual patient’s cancer to design a specific therapy that helps train their immune system to fight it,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.
Moderna and Merck said the treatment was the “first and only” combined therapy that showed “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements” in stopping cancer from redeveloping and spreading in patients whose melanomas had been removed. The regimen involved Moderna’s mRNA vaccine and Merck’s medication, Keytruda.
Moderna became a corporate hero during the pandemic as it rushed to develop a vaccine against Covid. But its fortunes have since turned as it faces weaker demand for the jab. Last year it became the most shorted stock in the S&P 500.
The group has bet on new cancer vaccines to drive a turnaround and has been working for years on the vaccine alongside Merck. Even with Wednesday’s sharp share price rise, Moderna would still be trading at less than a third of its 2021 peak after it launched its Covid vaccine.
Shares in fellow US drugmaker Merck rose 12.6 per cent in early afternoon trading to hit an all-time high. Germany-based BioNTech, another leader in mRNA, saw its shares jump 21.6 per cent after Moderna’s report.
“This is a landmark moment,” analysts at TD Cowen said in a report. The shot is expected to win regulatory approval next year and quickly be sold to patients, they said.
Moderna has also been building out its manufacturing to prepare for additional vaccine production, including buying a new facility in Massachusetts in 2023.
Original Source: https://www.ft.com/content/a98a77e2-5156-4189-b971-974a7e60130f?syn-25a6b1a6=1
