Australia helps develop world-first mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma

A major breakthrough in fighting skin cancer has been announced on Friday, with an Australian-led trial developing a world first vaccine.

The clinical study was led by former Australian of the Year Professor Georgina Long, who shared the award in 2024 with the late Professor Richard Scolyer, a pioneering cancer scientist.

The new vaccine was tailor-made for every patient taking part in the trial.

Adding it to a standard post-surgery treatment reduced the risk of melanoma returning two years later by 42 per cent, according to the latest study of the new drug.

The vaccine, called intismeran, is made with the same Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology that was behind COVID-19 vaccines.

Long, medical director at the Melanoma Institute Australia, affiliated with the University of Sydney, told The Sydney Morning Herald she was overwhelmed by the trial results.

“I’m not one prone to exaggeration, but this really is a very, very big leap forward in cancer,” she said.

“It’s all the clichés: landmark moment, moon landing, first flight – it really is a foundational shift.” 

The study, funded by Moderna and Merck, included more than 1100 people with high-risk melanoma that was surgically removed. Everyone was given the standard follow-up therapy: Merck’s immunotherapy named Keytruda. The participants were randomly assigned to also receive tailor-made vaccine doses or a placebo.

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Two years later, 82 per cent of the people in the vaccine group were still living without a recurrence of their cancer compared with 70 per cent who had gotten standard Keytruda alone.

The trial is continuing to track participants’ longer-term outcomes.

- With The Associated Press