By Denny Jacob


Pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. on Thursday said its mRNA-4157/V940 in combination with drugmaker Merck & Co.'s Keytruda was granted priority medicines scheme designation by the European Medicines Agency to treat patients with high-risk stage III/IV melanoma following complete resection.

The companies said the designation was based on positive data from a Phase 2b trial. They plan to initiate a Phase 3 study this year and expand to additional tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer.

Moderna's mRNA-4157/V940 is its investigational personalized mRNA cancer vaccine. Merck's Keytruda is its anti-PD-1 therapy.

"There is a high unmet need for therapies in melanoma, as it can be a life-threatening condition where available therapies may not be sufficiently effective in a significant proportion of patients," said Moderna President Stephen Hoge.


Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-06-23 1738ET