Merck pays Moderna $250m for personalized cancer vaccine
Kristin Houser writing for Freethink:
A personalized cancer vaccine: Moderna’s cancer vaccine works differently than most vaccines because it’s designed to treat an existing disease rather than prevent it entirely. It’s also personalized for each patient, while other shots are typically mass produced and distributed to the population.
To create each vaccine, Moderna takes a sample of a patient’s tumor. It then uses genetic sequencing technology to identify proteins in the tissue called “neoantigens.” These proteins are found only on the surface of cancer cells, and they are unique to each person’s tumor.
This is the future.
As my pharmacy expert friend explained it to me in simple words - taking old viruses (example, HIV/Ruebelka, Measles) and directing them towards cancer cells. MRNA has been out there for a while and now with COVID vaccines success, it may pave the way for Cancer treatments; however, historically it hasn't show an efficacy.