Cancer/ Heart Disease Vaccines : Pharmaceutical Firm Seeks Approval By 2030

Millions of lives could be saved by a groundbreaking set of new vaccines for a range of conditions including cancer. Moderna, which created a leading Coronavirus vaccine, is developing cancer vaccines that target different tumour types. Last month during the 43rd Annual Healthcare Conference in Boston, the company’s president, Stephen Hoge, said Moderna may seek the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) accelerated approval for its personalized cancer vaccine. The announcement follows data from the Phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 trial, published in December 2022, which showed the investigational mRNA vaccine in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) significantly improved recurrence-free survival in stage III/IV melanoma (cancer cells that have spread to the lymph nodes close to where the melanoma started-the primary tumour).  
According to reports on BioSpace website, compared with Keytruda alone, the combination regimen had a hazard ratio of 0.56, indicating that it cuts the risk of recurrence or death by 44 per cent. Moderna’s shot was also safe, with a profile consistent with what had been previously published. Treatment-related serious adverse events arose in 14.4 per cent and 10 per cent of patients treated with the combination regimen and Keytruda alone, respectively. “We hope that at some point, this randomized 150-person Phase IIb study that we ran might be able to become the basis of accelerated approval,” Hoge said.
The chief Medical Officer of the leading Pharmaceutical Company Moderna, Dr Paul Burton said he is confident that jabs for cancer, cardiovascular and autoimmune ...