Overview
- An MSK-led Phase 1 follow-up reported that a bespoke mRNA vaccine (autogene cevumeran) prompted strong immune responses in 8 of 16 post-surgery patients, and 7 of those responders were alive four to six years later.
- The therapy is built from each patient’s tumor mutations and given after surgery to train T cells to find residual cancer, with early studies pairing the shots with chemotherapy and, in some reports, checkpoint drugs.
- BioNTech and Genentech have advanced to Phase 2, including a roughly 260-patient program that began in 2023, to test efficacy at scale and identify which patients are most likely to benefit.
- Separate progress includes Revolution Medicines’ KRAS-targeting pill daraxonrasib, which company data suggest roughly doubled median overall survival versus chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer patients.
- New lab work from Washington University found mRNA cancer vaccines can prime T cells through two dendritic-cell paths (cDC1 and cDC2), and U.S. support is mixed, with cuts to respiratory mRNA funding but a new $200 million NCI partnership for cancer-vaccine trials.