Cancer vaccine shows promise in preventing recurrance of melanoma, Merck and Moderna say

Pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck said Wednesday that an experimental vaccine treatment is showing promise in preventing cancer from returning or spreading. 

The results come from a study of high-risk melanoma patients, NBC News reported. The results haven't been published in a peer-reviewed journal, nor have the companies released the new data. They said the results would be presented in an upcoming medical meeting and shared with regulators. 

According to the companies, the mRNA-based vaccine was tested in a late-stage trial involving people who’d already had surgery to remove a melanoma. The study involved a personalized cancer vaccine called Intismeran, produced by Merck and Moderna, used in combination with Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda.

Interim results from the trial show that the vaccine-drug combination appeared to increase the time before cancer returned in the high-risk patients, the companies said.