Mike Leach and Jake Hescock: Rest in Peace

Moderna used the same technology behind its messenger RNA vaccines for COVID-19 to develop personalized cancer vaccines that train a patient’s immune system to spot unique genetic mutations in their tumors and destroy any cancer cells matching that molecular mugshot.

“We make a new personalized vaccine for every individual in the study,” chief medical officer Dr. Paul Burton said in an interview.

In an intermediate-stage study of 157 people with skin cancer, Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine reduced the relative risk of cancer recurrence or death by 44 percent when paired with Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, compared with people who got Keytruda alone. The patients were followed for an average of two years.
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The highly anticipated results represent a major step forward in the Cambridge firm’s mission to apply messenger RNA technology to diseases beyond COVID. “We really think that it has the potential to be a paradigm shift in the treatment of cancer patients. And it’s a landmark finding for mRNA therapeutics,” Burton said. “We’re thrilled with it.”

The topline results were announced in a press release and have yet to be published in a medical journal or presented at a scientific conference. Burton said Moderna would publish the study results “as quickly as possible” and that a more detailed analysis of the study’s results would “be coming very soon.”
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Moderna makes the custom shots at its manufacturing plant in Norwood. The company collects cancer cells and normal cells from a patient and sequences their genes to identify mutations that are important for the growth of the cancer. The firm’s algorithms then select up to 34 tidbits of genetic code from the cancer cells to encode in its mRNA molecules, which train immune cells to seek and destroy cells with those distinctive features.

Several companies have tried, and failed, to develop cancer vaccines over the years, yet some scientists hope that mRNA technology will help turn the tides.

“A ton of effort went into developing cancer vaccines in the eighties, nineties, and into the aughts,” Sullivan said. “A lot of them were tested in melanoma, and almost all of them fell flat on their face.”

Sullivan thinks the combination of using mRNA ― tailoring the vaccine to a patient’s unique mutations ― and algorithms to pick the best mutations all helped make the shots “more successful than any of the cancer vaccines that preceded it.”

The autopsy [performed in New York] found that Mr. Wahl had an ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm, a weakening of the blood vessel that often goes undetected. As the aneurysm grows, it may produce a cough, shortness of breath or chest pain, some of which the doctors consulted by Mr. Wahl in Qatar might have attributed to his cold and a possible case of bronchitis.



In rare cases, the aneurysm can rupture and lead to death. Doctors are now exploring whether Mr. Wahl had Marfan syndrome, a risk factor for this type of aneurysm. He was tall and thin and had long arms, all of which can be signs of the genetic syndrome.