First UK cancer patients receive Moderna’s experimental mRNA therapy
In partnership between Imperial College London (ICL) and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHNT), the international Mobilize trial has issued first doses of Moderna’s experimental mRNA therapy, mRNA-4359, to UK cancer patients.
The first doses of the immunotherapy treatment were given to patients at the National Institute of Health and Care Research’s Imperial Clinical Research Facility at Hammersmith Hospital.
Cancer vaccines offer the potential to improve the efficacy of conventional immunotherapies, including personalised cancer immunotherapy and therapeutic cancer immunotherapy.
Personalised cancer immunotherapies rely on extracting patients’ own genetic material from their tumours, while therapeutic cancer immunotherapies, such as mRNA-4359, are ready-made and tailored to a particular type of cancer.
The phase 1/2 trial is evaluating the safety and potential of mRNA-4359 for treating cancers, including melanoma, lung cancer and other solid tumours.
Designed using messenger RNA (mRNA), the experimental therapy works by presenting common markers of tumours to patients’ immune systems to help train them to recognise and fight cancer cells that express them.
Additionally, mRNA-4359 has the potential to eliminate cells, which may suppress the immune response.
The primary aim of the early-stage trial is to assess whether this new mRNA therapy is safe and well-tolerated by patients when administered alone or in combination with Merck & Co’s (known as MSD outside the US and Canada) Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an existing cancer drug that is a type of immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Furthermore, researchers are also investigating whether the combination of treatments can shrink tumours in patients with certain types of lung and skin cancers. All patients involved in the trial will be followed up for a period of up to 34 months.
The trial is being undertaken through the Moderna-UK Strategic Partnership, which aims to bring mRNA vaccine manufacturing to the UK and bolster its resilience to future health emergencies.
March 6, 2024
