mRNA Technology Spurs New Era in Cancer Treatment
- 23 oct
- 2 Min. de lectura
Biopharma company Moderna is strategically ramping up its mRNA Cancer Treatment oncology pipeline, a move that executives suggest "makes sense" given the current skeptical political climate surrounding infectious disease vaccines in the U.S.. Simultaneously, preliminary research indicates that the existing mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna may offer an unexpected benefit by helping some cancer patients fight tumors.
Moderna’s head of development, therapeutics, and oncology, Kyle Holen, M.D., affirmed at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress that while political resistance to infectious disease vaccines is uncertain, Moderna was founded partly as an oncology company. Holen noted that the company has many new oncology programs and fewer new infectious disease programs, with most upcoming investigational new drug applications focusing on cancer. This shift addresses the "huge unmet need in cancer," providing targets across lung cancer, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma, and melanoma.
At ESMO, Moderna presented Phase 1/2 data for mRNA-4359, a cancer drug encoding PD-L1 and IDO antigens. When administered intramuscularly every three weeks for up to nine doses in combination with Merck & Co.’s Keytruda, the therapy demonstrated an objective response rate of 24% among 29 evaluable melanoma patients. Based on these "really compelling data," Moderna plans to expand mRNA-4359 development into lung cancer. Holen explained that mRNA-4359 utilizes a unique mechanism that suppresses regulatory T cells and acts as a flag for T-cells to find and attack cancer cells directly.
Furthermore, Moderna is advancing its personalized cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene (mRNA-4157), partnered with Merck, into a Phase 3 trial for metastatic melanoma, having gained confidence from the efficacy shown by '4359 in metastatic disease.
In a separate development highlighting the broad potential of the mRNA platform, preliminary research suggests that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots may boost the immune systems of certain cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. The study focused on people with advanced lung or skin cancer receiving checkpoint inhibitor drugs.
Researchers found that patients who received a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting treatment lived substantially longer. For example, vaccinated lung cancer patients were nearly twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning cancer treatment compared to unvaccinated patients. The mRNA molecule, which contains genetic instructions for making proteins, appears to act as a "siren to activate immune cells throughout the body," sensitizing immune-resistant tumors to the cutting-edge treatment. Notably, non-mRNA vaccines like flu shots did not yield this beneficial effect.
The results are so promising that researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Florida are planning a more rigorous study to see if these off-the-shelf mRNA coronavirus vaccines should be formally paired with checkpoint inhibitors. This comes despite the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently ending funding for certain mRNA vaccine work due to skepticism.
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