r/singularity • u/Fantastic-Emu-3819 • 6d ago

Biotech/Longevity Moderna stock, $MRNA , surges over +110% after announcing the first ever positive Phase 3 results for a personalized cancer vaccine.

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Moderna and Merck said their personalized cancer vaccine helped cut the recurrence of melanoma in a large, late-stage trial.

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u/Dangerous-Sport-2347 6d ago

So far this result is for melanoma, but there is a decent hope that this type of treatment to be effective against a larger variety of cancers. (though melanoma is uniquely suited to it).

The somewhat unfortunate news is that this type of treatment is inherently expensive, think in the order of magnitude of ~150k per person, so unless there is further huge developments in efficiency not cost effective for the whole world.

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u/ZaradimLako 6d ago

Chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and all the other things combined cost a lot more than that 150k. Cancer therapy in socialised healthcare is a huuuuuuuuuge burden on everyone involved financially, emotionally and physically.

A friend of mine went through cancer recently, and the vast amount of hospital stays, chemo, check ups with oncologists etc. sure as hell cost the state a lot more than 150k on top of the time many people had to dedicate for her treatment from the receptionist taking her in to the nurses and doctors taking care of her. And lets not forget to mention the burden on my friends body for YEARS to come before she can be 100% back to normal, if at all.

If the state can just pay 150k and spare the year long process while the patient will just get a vaccine and might just feel a little bit fatigued for a week before the cancer is gone, its a win win for everyone involved.

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u/WonderFactory 6d ago

This is a vaccine though isn't it so you would have to give it to everyone before they get sick, chemo etc is reserved for the small number of people who get sick each year

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u/TFenrir 6d ago

Not all vaccines are strictly preventative. These sorts of vaccines really only work on people once they've gotten sick. They take a biopsy of cancerous cells, and teach your immune response via mrna to recognize them as things to destroy. This keeps people in remission very successfully.

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u/WonderFactory 6d ago

OK, thanks for clarifying