TRIAL FINDS MELANOMA VACCINE REDUCES RECURRENCE OR DEATH RISK

A phase III trial found that adding a personalised vaccine to immunotherapy reduced the risk of melanoma returning or death by 42% compared with immunotherapy alone. The INTerpath-001 trial enrolled 1,137 patients whose melanoma had been surgically removed but who faced a high risk of recurrence. Researchers gave all participants pembrolizumab, while some also received the vaccine, intismeran. The reported reduction covered the two years after treatment. The trial took place at 157 sites worldwide.

Intismeran is an mRNA-based therapeutic vaccine tailored to mutations in each patient’s melanoma. Unlike vaccines intended to prevent disease, it is designed for people already diagnosed with cancer. Participants had stage IIB to IV melanoma and had not previously received cancer drug treatment. They received pembrolizumab for 12 months. Researchers compared outcomes for those given both treatments with outcomes for those given pembrolizumab alone.

Professor Georgina Long, medical director at Melanoma Institute Australia, described the findings as “a foundational shift in our approach to cancer”. Long also holds a research chair at the University of Sydney and presented the findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology’s 2026 congress. The researchers say this is the first individualised cancer vaccine to produce positive results in a phase III trial. The results have been accepted for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine and still require peer review.