MODERNA $MRNA JUST MORE THAN DOUBLED IN A SINGLE DAY
The stock is +127% to $143.05, adding more than $80 a share in one session. Merck $MRK is +12%. A Phase 3 cancer vaccine trial read out this morning and the result was strong enough to reprice both companies:
The personalized mRNA cancer vaccine from Merck and Moderna, paired with Keytruda, significantly extended the time melanoma patients lived without their cancer returning compared to Keytruda alone. It also cut the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body.
More than 1,100 patients, all of whom had their detectable cancer removed by surgery first. This is the first late-stage trial the approach has ever run.
The vaccine is built per patient. Every tumor carries its own set of mutations, so the shot targets the specific mutations in that person's tumor instead of using one fixed formula for everyone.
"It's a big moment for medicine, a big moment for patients," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on CNBC.
Moderna entered the day around $25B. Merck was near $333B. Same news, same trial, and one stock moved ten times harder than the other.
Overall survival data is still pending, and Merck's research chief said conversations with regulators start in the next few months.
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