Merck drops KRAS-targeted mRNA cancer vaccine developed in partnership with Moderna
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Merck drops KRAS-targeted mRNA cancer vaccine developed in partnership with Moderna.
KRAS gene mutation occurs in up to 25% of lung cancers, 45% of colorectal cancers and 90% of pancreatic cancers, but no effective treatment has been developed for this gene mutation, so KRAS is also considered ” undruggable ” target “.
Until May 2021, the FDA accelerated the approval of the KRAS inhibitor Lumakras (sotorasib, AMG510) developed by Amgen for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer with KRAS G12C mutation, which is also the first approved KRAS-targeted therapy.
Although KRAS targets are difficult to make drugs, Moderna believes that through the mRNA technology platform, the mutant KRAS protein is produced and specifically presented to the immune system, so that it is possible for the patient’s own immune system to attack and clear the cancer carrying the KRAS gene mutation. cells for the treatment of cancer.
And, unlike approved drugs that only inhibit the KRAS G12C mutation, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine targets four of the most common KRAS mutations simultaneously .
As early as 2018, Merck and Moderna reached a cooperation to jointly develop two mRNA cancer vaccines, one of which is the cancer vaccine mRNA-5671 for KRAS gene mutation, and the other is the personalized tumor vaccine mRNA-4157.
Merck started a Phase 1 clinical trial in 2019 to evaluate the safety and tolerability of this mRNA-5671. However, recently, Merck announced that it would abandon the cancer mRNA vaccine developed in cooperation with Moderna against KRAS gene mutations, and the Phase 1 clinical trial has also stopped.
At present, Moderna has 3 cancer vaccine research and development pipelines, which are the personalized tumor vaccine developed in cooperation with Merck, the KRAS vaccine, and the self-developed immune checkpoint vaccine.
Although Merck announced the abandonment of the KRAS vaccine, the collaborative personalized tumor vaccine continues and is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.
This personalized tumor vaccine encodes up to 34 neoantigens by mRNA and works well in head and neck cancer. In June of this year, the results of a phase 2 clinical trial of the vaccine in melanoma patients will be announced.
It is worth mentioning that although Merck gave up the KRAS vaccine, the cooperation between Merck and Moderna still brought great returns. Based on the cooperation at that time, Merck invested a total of US$175 million in Moderna. Liquidated its stake in Moderna, benefiting nearly $1 billion.
Merck drops KRAS-targeted mRNA cancer vaccine developed in partnership with Moderna
(source:internet, reference only)
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