- Moderna shares jumped 177 per cent after the late-stage melanoma trial results.
- The personalised treatment is designed around mutations found in each patient's tumour.
- The result could give Moderna a new growth path as demand for its Covid vaccines has weakened.
Moderna has given investors something they have been waiting for since the Covid vaccine boom: a reason to believe its mRNA technology could become a much bigger business beyond infectious diseases.
Shares in the US drugmaker jumped 177 per cent to $174.38 on August 19 after Moderna and Merck reported positive results from a late-stage trial of an experimental personalised cancer treatment. It was Moderna's biggest one-day percentage gain since its 2018 stock market debut and added billions of dollars to its market value.
Merck's shares also climbed more than 12 per cent as investors reacted to the results.
The treatment, called intismeran, is an mRNA-based therapy designed individually for patients based on the mutations found in their tumours. It is being tested alongside Merck's established cancer drug Keytruda in people with high-risk melanoma whose tumours had been surgically removed.
The Phase 3 trial involved 1,137 patients and met its main goal of extending the period before melanoma returned. It also met a secondary goal measuring the time before the cancer spread to other parts of the body.
Why the results matter for Moderna
The breakthrough is significant because it is the first successful late-stage trial for a personalised mRNA cancer therapy, potentially opening a new use for the technology that made Moderna famous during the pandemic.
Unlike a conventional vaccine that is designed to prevent an infection, this treatment is built around the genetic characteristics of an individual's tumour.
The aim is to train the immune system to recognise specific mutations in cancer cells and attack them if they return.
Detailed results from the trial have not yet been released. Moderna and Merck plan to present the full findings at a medical conference later this year, meaning investors and researchers will still want to see the underlying data before judging how significant the result ultimately is.
The companies plan to submit the data to regulators, with Moderna targeting a US launch next year if the treatment receives approval.
The trial is also part of a wider programme looking at the treatment in other cancers, including lung and bladder cancer.
That gives Moderna a possible route out of its post-pandemic problems.
The company, along with other Covid vaccine makers such as Pfizer and BioNTech, has faced falling demand for Covid vaccines after the pandemic. A successful cancer treatment could give Moderna another major source of revenue and demonstrate that its mRNA platform has uses well beyond Covid.
The market saw more than just a medical breakthrough
The reaction on Wall Street showed how much investors had riding on Moderna's ability to find its next big business.
The share surge lifted the company's valuation dramatically, while investors who had bet against the stock were caught on the wrong side of the rally. Short sellers were facing billions of dollars in paper losses after the jump.
The news also lifted other companies working on mRNA cancer treatments. BioNTech, which is developing its own cancer pipeline, saw its shares rise sharply.
For Merck, the result could be important for another reason. Its Keytruda cancer drug is one of the world's biggest-selling medicines, but it faces the long-term challenge of patent expiry. If the personalised vaccine becomes an approved combination treatment, it could potentially help extend the commercial life of Keytruda.
Moderna's latest result does not mean a cancer vaccine is ready for widespread use. Regulatory approval is still required, detailed trial data has yet to be presented, and producing a treatment tailored to individual tumours on a large scale could prove expensive and complicated.
But the market has already made its judgement on what the result could mean.
Moderna's Covid-era success was built on the idea that mRNA could change medicine. Its latest cancer trial has given investors a reason to believe that idea may have a life beyond the pandemic.
