New personalized cancer vaccine could become one of the world's best-selling drugs

A new mRNA-based personalized vaccine for melanoma, developed by Moderna and Merck, has shown promise in clinical trials by significantly reducing the risk of cancer recurrence after surgery when combined with immunotherapy. The treatment involves creating a custom vaccine from a sample of each patient's tumor, and researchers are currently exploring its use for other cancers including lung, kidney, and bladder. While clinical data is promising, the treatment faces challenges regarding manufacturing scalability and high costs, with some analysts estimating prices around 410,000 euros per patient.