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UPDATE 1-Moderna, Merck begin late-stage study for mRNA cancer therapy

Reuters
·1-min read

(Adds therapy details and background in paragraphs 2-4)

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Moderna and Merck & Co said on Monday they have started a late-stage trial of their experimental personalized mRNA cancer treatment in combination with blockbuster drug Keytruda for patients with a type of lung cancer.

The therapy, V940, belongs to a class of treatments called m-RNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy (INT) and is tailored for each patient to generate T-cells, a key part of the body's immune response, based on the specific mutational signature of a tumor.

Recruitment for the study has begun globally with the first patients enrolled in Australia, the companies said.

Moderna and Merck started a late-stage study in July testing the combination therapy in patients with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)