Moderna Surges 125% After mRNA Cancer Vaccine Hits Phase 3 Goals in Melanoma Trial

Moderna shares more than doubled on Wednesday, rising roughly 125% to around $142, after the company and Merck announced that their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine intismeran met the primary endpoints of the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial. The study evaluated intismeran combined with Merck's immunotherapy Keytruda as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected Stage IIB-IV melanoma, and the regimen produced statistically significant improvements in both recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared with Keytruda alone, making it the first combination regimen to do so in that setting. Merck shares climbed roughly 10% on the news.

The result marks the first positive Phase 3 readout for an mRNA-based cancer therapy and positions the companies to engage regulators on filing submissions. BioNTech, which is developing its own mRNA oncology pipeline, also saw its shares surge in sympathy. Short sellers were hit hard, with Bloomberg reporting a roughly $5 billion loss for those positioned against Moderna.

Separately, Broadcom stock fell about 5% after Marvell Technology announced a custom chip deal with Alphabet, disclosing a warrant that would allow Google to purchase up to approximately 58.97 million Marvell shares at $206.58 each, worth up to $12.2 billion, as the search giant diversifies its chip partnerships away from Broadcom, which had previously held a major five-year TPU supply agreement with Alphabet signed in April.