Moderna and Merck announce positive results from cancer vaccine trial

Moderna and Merck announced positive results from a cancer vaccine trial on Wednesday. Their stock prices rose sharply after the news. Moderna's shares climbed as much as 160% during the day, while Merck's rose around 10%.

The trial tested a personalised vaccine called intismeran on over 1,100 patients with advanced skin cancer. Each vaccine was made specifically for the patient, based on their tumour's unique features. Patients received either the vaccine together with Merck's drug Keytruda, or Keytruda alone.

This is the first late-stage trial of an mRNA cancer therapy to succeed. mRNA technology has mostly been used for infectious disease vaccines until now. Analysts believe the treatment could earn around $3 billion by 2035.