SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
And yesterday, after some data partially leaked, drugmakers Merck and Moderna released clinical trial results on their skin cancer MRNA vaccine. The medical results are positive, showing significant reductions in cancer recurrence and death. NPR consumer health correspondent Yuki Noguchi joins us now. Hey, there.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Hey.
DETROW: I mean, a lot of interest in this trial, huh?
NOGUCHI: Yeah. It's the biggest test of a fairly new concept of an MRNA cancer vaccine. The idea of cancer vaccines have been around for a while, but this shows it can be effective. In this case, drugmakers Merck and Moderna designed personalized vaccines. They, in other words, custom made treatments for each patient based on their tumor samples. And MRNA is like a genetic instruction manual, and so the vaccine works by reprogramming immune cells by making them target and kill cancer cells with mutated proteins on them. So it's not a traditional drug. It's actually making your own body fight the cancer.
DETROW: Wow. And it seems to have worked in this case.
NOGUCHI: Yeah, the clinical trial involved more than 1,100 post-surgical melanoma patients who typically would have a high rate of recurrence. And they found that adding the vaccine to a common immunotherapy drug called Keytruda reduced risk of recurrence or death by 42% over two years compared to Keytruda alone. And side effects were mild. So it will be pricey, though Merck declined to estimate its cost. You know, Keytruda alone actually costs $12,000 a dose - list for $12,000 a dose. But, you know, cost aside, this is a big deal for the 110,000 Americans or so who are diagnosed with skin cancer every year and may have application for others, too.
DETROW: Yeah. I mean, what are patients and doctors saying about their experience with this drug so far?
NOGUCHI: You know, yesterday, I reached one of the trial participants, Ted Komenda. He's 56, and he was driving to a paint sales job in Cape Cod. Komenda's skin cancer recurred and worsened two years ago. Then he got 17 doses of vaccine and hasn't had any recurrence.
TED KOMENDA: I've gone up every day and gone to work. Through this whole process, I've been able to live the life that I want.
NOGUCHI: And he really wants research funding to continue for this.
KOMENDA: Forget about me, really, right? Think about all the other cancers out there - breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer. It's a shot instead of months and months of chemotherapy or surgeries where they have to rebuild afterwards. This is incredible. It's personalized medicine.
NOGUCHI: Merck says it will now seek approval for this melanoma treatment from the Food and Drug Administration, which could come late next year.
DETROW: I mean, help me understand. Are there vaccines for other cancers?
NOGUCHI: You know, there are quite a few in various stages of development, including for kidney, lung and bladder cancers. One pancreatic cancer vaccine is showing about half of its 16 patients alive 7 years out, which is kind of unheard of. But there have been disappointments, too. A BioNTech study this month proved ineffective against head and neck cancers, for example. And I think the mixed results point to the many unknowns. Researchers suspect the key is to identify more mutated proteins on cancerous cells, which could make vaccines potentially more effective.
DETROW: That is NPR consumer health correspondent Yuki Noguchi. Thank you so much.
NOGUCHI: Thank you.
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