The INterpath-001 study evaluates the combination of Moderna/Merck’s mRNA-4157 and Merck’s Keytruda
An international phase 3 trial evaluating a new personalized immunotherapy for melanoma has recruited its first patients at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust.
Results from a Phase 2 trial evaluating mRNA-based technology treatments from Moderna and Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada) lancet.
Currently the fifth most common type of cancer, melanoma is a serious skin cancer that causes more than 8,000 new cases each year.
This condition is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of pigment-producing cells.
A new trial, INterpath-001, evaluates the combination of mRNA-4157 (V940) and Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as a risk-reducing treatment option compared to the current standard of care, Keytruda alone. are doing. Patients with high-risk stage 2b-4 melanoma removed after surgical removal of cancer. The primary outcomes are recurrence-free survival, overall survival, and metastasis-free survival with secondary outcomes.
This personalized therapy uses up to 34 targeted neoantigens, which use genetic sequencing to identify neoantigens (proteins found only on cancer cells) that are thought to be causing a particular patient’s cancer. It is designed to tell the body to produce protein.
Neoantigen therapy works to stimulate each patient’s immune system to attack tumor cells, whereas Keytruda works to block the immunological “brakes” that protect cancer.
The Phase 3 study follows the Phase 2 KEYNOTE-942 study, which evaluated V940 and Keytruda in patients with advanced stage 3b-4 melanoma after surgical resection, compared with standard treatment alone. A 49% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death after 20 years was demonstrated. Of cancer.
Heather Shaw, consultant medical oncologist at UCLH, said: “[Immunotherapy]primes the immune system to quickly identify the cancer cells that harbor it, with the aim of preventing melanoma from coming back. We can attack.”
Researchers hope the study, which is being conducted at multiple sites in the UK, will confirm the results of the initial trial and enroll more than 1,000 patients worldwide.
