Personalis and Moderna team on mRNA cancer vax

Moderna will continue to use Personalis’ NeXT platform in its upcoming clinical trial of mRNA-4157/V940, an investigational personalized cancer vaccine. 

The agreement, of which financial details have not been disclosed, sees the companies sign to continue to use Personalis’ NeXT platform to clinically evaluate mRNA-4157/V940, which is jointly developed by Moderna and Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside north America).

Moderna transferred personalized cancer vaccine capabilities to its production facility in Norwood, Massachusetts in March 2019 and used the site to make materials for mRNA-4157, which is in combination with Merck’s PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with resected melanoma.

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Personalis says the platform investigates specific areas of tumor biology, such as detecting neoantigens, identifying gene expression, establishing mechanisms of tumor escape, and characterizing the immune responses. In turn, these capabilities enable the platform to consolidate numerous biomarker assays into one and the algorithm allows for the delivery of critical tumor and immune-related information.

The platform, which was used in the messenger RNA (mRNA) based vaccine candidate’s Phase IIb clinical study, will now be used to structure genomic information from an individual’s tumor sample to establish the specific genetic mutations that are likely to create a tailored antitumor response.

“For years, we have been at the forefront of working with pharmaceutical partners, including Moderna, to apply our NeXT Platform to the sequencing of personalized cancer vaccines,” said Chris Hall, president of Personalis.

“We are thrilled to enter a new agreement with Moderna and support the next stage of clinical development for this program.”

In January, CytomX Therapeutics entered into an agreement to combine its Probody platform with Moderna’s mRNA technology to create and advance therapeutics for oncology and non-oncology conditions