Last updated: 20 August 2026
For years, the idea of making a cancer vaccine specifically for one individual sounded more like a glimpse of future medicine than something likely to enter ordinary cancer care. Melanoma may now be one of the cancers that changes that.
A personalised mRNA treatment known as intismeran autogene, previously called V940 or mRNA-4157, is being developed by Moderna and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. It is designed from the genetic mutations found inside an individual patient's melanoma and given alongside the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, or Keytruda.
The results have attracted considerable attention because this is not simply another laboratory experiment. A randomised phase IIb study produced encouraging results that remained durable after five years of follow-up. Then, on 19 August 2026, Moderna and Merck announced that their much larger phase III INTerpath-001 trial had met its main endpoint, showing a statistically significant improvement in recurrence-free survival when intismeran was added to pembrolizumab.[1,2,3]
It is an important development, but the headlines need some unpacking.
This is not a vaccine that healthy people receive to prevent melanoma. It is not comparable with childhood vaccines or a vaccine against an infectious disease such as measles. It is a therapeutic cancer vaccine, designed for people who have already developed melanoma.
Nor, as of August 2026, is personalised intismeran treatment routinely available to melanoma patients through the NHS or ordinary cancer clinics. It remains an investigational treatment while detailed phase III data, regulatory submissions and health-service assessments are completed.[3,4]
What makes the research fascinating is the way the treatment is made. Instead of producing one identical vaccine for millions of people, researchers analyse an individual person's tumour, identify mutations that distinguish their cancer cells from normal cells and manufacture a vaccine intended to teach that person's immune system what to attack.
What is the melanoma vaccine?
The phrase "melanoma vaccine" is slightly misleading because several different forms of cancer vaccine have been investigated over the years.
The treatment attracting most attention today is intismeran autogene, an individualised neoantigen therapy.
It uses messenger RNA, better known as mRNA, to give cells temporary instructions for producing fragments resembling proteins found specifically on a patient's melanoma cells. These abnormal tumour-associated targets are called neoantigens.
The immune system can then learn to recognise those neoantigens. The aim is to create populations of T cells capable of recognising and destroying melanoma cells carrying the same mutations.
The principle sounds straightforward, but making the treatment requires sophisticated tumour sequencing, computational analysis and personalised manufacturing.
Is the melanoma vaccine the same as a COVID mRNA vaccine?
The underlying concept of delivering genetic instructions using mRNA is related to the technology widely recognised from COVID-19 vaccines, but the purpose is very different.
A COVID vaccine teaches the immune system to recognise an antigen belonging to an infectious virus.
A personalised melanoma vaccine attempts to teach the immune system to recognise abnormal proteins generated by mutations within one person's cancer.
There is another major difference. A conventional infectious-disease vaccine can be manufactured in enormous batches because millions of people receive substantially the same product.
With intismeran, the treatment is made specifically for one patient. The mRNA sequence in one person's treatment may therefore be substantially different from that used for another person's melanoma.
Why would melanoma respond to a cancer vaccine?
Melanoma has long been an important cancer in the development of immunotherapy.
One reason is that melanoma cells can contain a large number of genetic mutations, particularly in cancers associated with ultraviolet radiation. Mutations may generate abnormal proteins that are not normally found in healthy cells.
These abnormal proteins can create potential targets for the immune system.
The difficulty is that cancers develop ways of escaping immune attack. Some cancer cells suppress local immune responses, while others exploit normal biological pathways that prevent the immune system from attacking the body's own tissues.
That is where pembrolizumab becomes important.
What is pembrolizumab and why is it combined with the melanoma vaccine?
Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, is an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
It blocks a protein called PD-1 on immune cells.
PD-1 normally acts rather like a brake on the immune response. This braking mechanism is essential because uncontrolled immune activity can damage healthy tissues. Some cancers, however, exploit the PD-1 pathway to make themselves harder for immune cells to attack.
Pembrolizumab releases part of this immune brake.
The logic behind combining the two treatments is therefore particularly interesting:
- The personalised vaccine attempts to show T cells what the melanoma looks like.
- Pembrolizumab attempts to make it harder for the melanoma to switch those T cells off.
Researchers hope that these two mechanisms reinforce each other.
How is a personalised melanoma vaccine made?
The process begins with the patient's own tumour.
After melanoma has been surgically removed, tumour tissue can be analysed using genetic sequencing. A sample of normal tissue or blood can also be analysed so that researchers can distinguish inherited genetic variations from mutations that developed specifically within the cancer.
The broad process involves several stages.
1. The melanoma is sequenced
Researchers examine DNA and other molecular information from the tumour to identify mutations.
2. Tumour mutations are compared with normal cells
This helps identify changes that belong to the cancer rather than ordinary genetic variations present throughout the patient's body.
3. Potential neoantigens are predicted
Computer algorithms evaluate which mutations are most likely to produce abnormal proteins that can be recognised effectively by the patient's immune system.
4. Up to 34 neoantigens can be selected
Intismeran is designed to encode as many as 34 tumour-specific neoantigens selected from that patient's melanoma.[3]
5. A personalised mRNA treatment is manufactured
A synthetic mRNA sequence carrying instructions for the selected neoantigens is produced specifically for the patient.
6. The treatment is injected
Intismeran is given by intramuscular injection. Cells take up the mRNA and temporarily produce the encoded neoantigens.
7. The immune system is exposed to the targets
Antigen-presenting cells display these abnormal protein fragments to T cells. The aim is to generate and expand T-cell populations capable of recognising melanoma cells containing the same neoantigens.
The mRNA does not need to enter the nucleus of the cell and is eventually broken down. The aim is not to permanently alter someone's genetic material.
Does the melanoma vaccine change your DNA?
No. This is one of the most common misunderstandings surrounding mRNA technology.
Messenger RNA functions as a temporary set of biological instructions. It is read by machinery in the cell's cytoplasm and then degraded.
It does not need to enter the cell nucleus where chromosomes are stored, and intismeran is not designed as a gene-editing treatment.
The personalised aspect of the vaccine comes from sequencing the patient's cancer and designing the mRNA around tumour mutations. It does not involve rewriting the patient's DNA.
Who has been receiving the experimental melanoma vaccine?
The most influential studies have focused on people whose melanoma had already been removed surgically but who remained at significant risk of the disease returning.
This is called adjuvant treatment.
After apparently successful surgery, scans may show no remaining cancer. Unfortunately, microscopic melanoma cells can sometimes remain elsewhere in the body. They may be too small to detect and can eventually develop into recurrent or metastatic melanoma.
Adjuvant treatment is intended to destroy these residual cancer cells before they cause detectable disease.
This is an important point because people hearing that a vaccine "stopped melanoma coming back" sometimes assume researchers were injecting patients with large, untreated tumours.
The major studies of intismeran have largely investigated whether treatment after surgery can reduce recurrence.
What did the KEYNOTE-942 melanoma vaccine trial show?
The first major randomised evidence came from the phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 trial.
The trial included 157 patients with completely resected high-risk stage IIIB to IV cutaneous melanoma.
Patients were allocated to one of two groups:
- 107 patients received personalised mRNA-4157/V940, now called intismeran, plus pembrolizumab.
- 50 patients received pembrolizumab alone.
The personalised treatment was given by intramuscular injection, for up to nine doses, while pembrolizumab was given for up to 18 doses in the original phase IIb study.[1,2]
The original results, published in The Lancet in 2024, were encouraging.
At approximately 18 months, estimated recurrence-free survival was 79% in the vaccine-plus-pembrolizumab group compared with 62% among patients receiving pembrolizumab alone.[2]
The important question was whether that advantage would last.
What did the five-year melanoma vaccine results show?
In June 2026, researchers published a planned five-year update from KEYNOTE-942 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
After a median follow-up of approximately 60 months, the combination continued to show an improvement in recurrence-free survival.
The hazard ratio for recurrence or death was 0.510. In other words, during the period studied, the combination was associated with an approximately 49% relative reduction in the risk of recurrence or death compared with pembrolizumab alone.[1]
The result for distant metastasis-free survival was also encouraging. The hazard ratio was 0.411, corresponding to an approximately 59% relative reduction in the risk of distant metastasis or death.[1]
Researchers also observed a favourable trend in overall survival, with a hazard ratio of 0.471, but the confidence interval was wide and the analysis was exploratory. It would therefore be premature to claim that the treatment has already been proven to extend overall survival.[1]
Does a 49% reduction mean the vaccine cures 49% of melanoma patients?
No.
This distinction is extremely important.
A 49% relative reduction in the risk of recurrence or death does not mean that 49 out of every 100 patients are cured by the vaccine.
A hazard ratio compares the rate at which events occur between two groups during a study period. It is not the same thing as an absolute cure rate.
It is also worth remembering that patients in the control group were not untreated. They received pembrolizumab, which is already an effective immunotherapy used to reduce melanoma recurrence.
The experimental question was whether adding a personalised vaccine could improve on an established treatment.
What happened in the phase III melanoma vaccine trial?
This is where the story became considerably more important.
The phase III study is called INTerpath-001.
It enrolled 1,137 patients with completely resected high-risk stage IIB, IIC, III or IV cutaneous melanoma.
Patients were randomly allocated in a 2:1 ratio to receive either:
- Intismeran plus pembrolizumab, or
- Pembrolizumab with placebo.
Intismeran was given at a dose of 1 mg every three weeks for up to nine doses. Pembrolizumab was given every six weeks for up to nine cycles, representing approximately one year of adjuvant therapy.[3,4]
On 19 August 2026, Moderna and Merck announced results from a pre-specified interim analysis.
The companies reported that the trial met its primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival. The combination also met the important secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival.[3]
According to the announcement, both improvements were statistically significant and clinically meaningful compared with pembrolizumab alone.
This matters because phase III trials are much larger and are usually the type of evidence regulators require before considering approval of a new treatment.
Has the full phase III melanoma vaccine data been published?
Not yet, as of 20 August 2026.
This is an essential qualification that has been missing from some of the more enthusiastic news coverage.
Moderna and Merck have announced that INTerpath-001 met its main endpoints, but detailed phase III figures have not yet been presented in a full scientific publication.
The companies have said that they intend to present the results at an international medical meeting and share the data with regulatory authorities.[3]
We therefore do not yet have all the information clinicians will want to examine, including detailed absolute recurrence rates, subgroup results, long-term safety information and mature overall-survival data.
The trial itself is also continuing to evaluate additional endpoints, particularly overall survival.
Why is the phase III result so important?
Personalised cancer vaccines have generated promising immune responses in smaller studies for years. What has been much harder to demonstrate is that they actually improve meaningful clinical outcomes in a large randomised study.
INTerpath-001 represents the first positive phase III readout reported for an individualised neoantigen therapy and an mRNA-based cancer treatment.[3]
That does not guarantee regulatory approval, nor does it prove the same technology will work for every type of cancer.
It does, however, provide much stronger evidence that personalised cancer vaccination can move beyond producing interesting immune responses in the laboratory and may materially reduce recurrence in patients.
Is the melanoma vaccine approved?
Intismeran is still described as an investigational treatment as of August 2026.
The positive phase III result is a major step towards possible approval, but successful clinical trials and regulatory approval are separate stages.
Regulators need to examine the complete evidence covering:
- Effectiveness
- Safety
- Manufacturing consistency
- Quality control
- Which patients should receive treatment
- How the personalised manufacturing process will be regulated
Merck and Moderna have said that they plan to engage with regulatory authorities regarding filing submissions.[3]
When will the melanoma vaccine be available in the UK?
There is currently no confirmed date when intismeran will become routinely available through the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NICE, has already selected V940 with pembrolizumab for adjuvant treatment of resected high-risk stage II to IV melanoma as a topic for appraisal. However, at the time of writing, the NICE project remains listed as awaiting development and no final recommendation has been issued.[5]
Before routine NHS availability could be expected, several things would normally need to happen. These include regulatory assessment, a marketing authorisation where appropriate, NICE evaluation of clinical and cost effectiveness, and arrangements for manufacturing and delivery.
Personalised treatment also presents unusual logistical challenges because every patient's vaccine must be produced from that person's own tumour information.
It would therefore be unwise to quote a specific NHS availability date until regulators and NICE publish further decisions.
Can I ask my oncologist for the melanoma vaccine now?
Patients should certainly feel able to ask their melanoma team about the research, but intismeran is not yet equivalent to requesting a routinely approved medicine.
Access outside eventual approval would generally depend on clinical trials or other specifically authorised research or access programmes.
The phase III INTerpath-001 adjuvant melanoma study itself has completed recruitment.
Other melanoma studies and cancer-vaccine trials may nevertheless be available, and eligibility can be highly specific. A melanoma oncologist is better placed than an internet search to determine whether an appropriate study exists for an individual patient.
Is there already a vaccine treatment for melanoma?
There is an interesting complication here.
A treatment called talimogene laherparepvec, or T-VEC, has already been approved for selected patients with melanoma and is sometimes discussed in the broad category of cancer vaccines or oncolytic immunotherapies.
T-VEC is very different from intismeran.
It is a genetically modified herpes simplex virus type 1 that is injected directly into accessible melanoma lesions. The virus replicates preferentially within tumour cells, causing them to rupture and helping stimulate an immune response.
NICE recommends T-VEC for a particular group of adults with unresectable metastatic melanoma when systemically administered immunotherapy is not considered the best option.[6]
It should not be confused with the personalised mRNA vaccine currently attracting headlines.
What are the side effects of the personalised melanoma vaccine?
In the phase IIb study, most treatment-related adverse events were mild or moderate.
The five-year analysis reported that common effects attributed to intismeran included:
- Fatigue
- Pain at the injection site
- Chills
In the earlier randomised analysis, grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events occurred in around 25% of patients receiving the combination compared with 18% receiving pembrolizumab alone.[2]
Importantly, patients receiving combination treatment are also exposed to the potential adverse effects of pembrolizumab.
Checkpoint inhibitors can sometimes cause the immune system to attack healthy organs. These are known as immune-related adverse events.
They can include inflammation affecting the:
- Thyroid gland
- Bowel
- Lungs
- Liver
- Kidneys
- Skin
- Pituitary gland and other endocrine organs
Less commonly, serious neurological, cardiac and other inflammatory complications can occur.
Anyone receiving checkpoint immunotherapy is normally given information about symptoms that should be reported urgently. Early recognition is important because significant immune-related toxicity may require corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive treatment.
Encouragingly, the August 2026 phase III announcement reported no new safety signal compared with the experience already known from earlier studies, although full phase III safety data still need to be presented.[3]
Could the melanoma vaccine replace pembrolizumab?
That is not what the most important trial has tested.
The successful strategy so far has been intismeran plus pembrolizumab compared with pembrolizumab alone.
The evidence therefore suggests that the personalised vaccine may add benefit to checkpoint immunotherapy rather than showing that patients can dispense with checkpoint treatment altogether.
Researchers are investigating individualised neoantigen therapies in several different combinations and settings, so the eventual role of the technology may continue to evolve.
Will everyone with melanoma need a personalised vaccine?
Almost certainly not.
Melanoma covers a broad range of disease.
A small, thin melanoma removed at an early stage can often be cured by surgery alone. Exposing a low-risk patient to months of systemic treatment would make little sense if the potential harms outweighed the chance of preventing recurrence.
Adjuvant treatment becomes more relevant when pathological features indicate a significant risk that melanoma could return.
Current melanoma management can include:
- Surgery
- Pembrolizumab
- Nivolumab
- BRAF and MEK targeted treatment for appropriate BRAF-mutated melanoma
- Combination immunotherapy
- Other systemic treatments
- Radiotherapy in selected situations
- Local treatments such as T-VEC in selected disease
A personalised vaccine would therefore enter an existing treatment landscape rather than replacing every other melanoma treatment.
What does "recurrence-free survival" mean?
Recurrence-free survival, or RFS, measures how long a patient remains alive without melanoma returning after treatment.
For someone whose melanoma has been completely removed, this is an important outcome.
The patient may currently have no detectable cancer, but the question is whether microscopic disease will eventually cause a local, regional or distant recurrence.
A treatment that significantly lengthens recurrence-free survival can therefore be clinically valuable even before mature overall-survival results are available.
What does distant metastasis-free survival mean?
Distant metastasis-free survival, or DMFS, measures the time before melanoma spreads to distant organs or distant lymph nodes, or before death as defined by the study protocol.
This is particularly important in melanoma because recurrence in distant organs represents progression to metastatic disease.
The five-year phase IIb data found a substantial improvement in this endpoint with intismeran plus pembrolizumab compared with pembrolizumab alone.[1]
The phase III study has now also met its DMFS endpoint, although the detailed phase III numbers have not yet been released.[3]
Do we know whether the melanoma vaccine helps people live longer?
Not conclusively yet.
This is one of the biggest questions still awaiting an answer.
The five-year phase IIb study showed an encouraging overall-survival trend, but relatively few deaths had occurred and the confidence interval was wide. The study was not large enough to establish a definitive overall-survival advantage.
Overall survival remains a secondary endpoint in the larger phase III INTerpath-001 trial, and the study is continuing while these results mature.[1,3]
It is therefore accurate to say that the vaccine combination has shown that it can reduce or delay melanoma recurrence. It is not yet accurate to state that it has definitively been shown to extend life expectancy.
Could personalised mRNA vaccines eventually be used for other cancers?
That is one of the reasons the melanoma result has generated attention beyond dermatology and melanoma medicine.
The underlying principle is not specific to melanoma. Many cancers contain mutations capable of generating neoantigens.
The INTerpath development programme has expanded into cancers including:
- Non-small cell lung cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Renal cell carcinoma
- Melanoma in different treatment settings
Other research groups are studying personalised cancer-vaccine approaches in pancreatic, colorectal and other cancers.
A successful melanoma programme does not prove that the same strategy will work everywhere. Some cancers contain fewer suitable mutations, while others have particularly immunosuppressive tumour environments.
Nevertheless, melanoma may provide an important proof of principle.
Could an mRNA vaccine prevent melanoma in healthy people?
This is a completely different question.
Intismeran is designed from mutations found in an existing person's tumour. Without that tumour sample, there is no personalised mutational fingerprint from which to design the treatment.
It therefore cannot currently be used as a conventional preventive melanoma vaccine for healthy people.
The best-established ways of reducing melanoma risk remain measures such as avoiding sunburn, limiting excessive ultraviolet exposure, avoiding sunbeds and recognising suspicious skin changes early.
Does the melanoma vaccine prevent all recurrences?
No.
Even in the encouraging phase IIb study, some patients receiving the combination experienced recurrent melanoma.
Cancer is genetically diverse. Different populations of tumour cells may exist within the same patient, and cancers can continue evolving under immune pressure.
A tumour cell that does not express one of the vaccine targets may potentially escape an immune response directed against that target.
One reason intismeran can encode up to 34 neoantigens is to attack several tumour-specific targets rather than relying on a single abnormal protein.
Why does every patient need a different vaccine?
Two melanomas can look very similar under a microscope yet contain very different collections of mutations.
Some common mutations, such as changes involving BRAF, occur in many patients. But much of a cancer's mutational landscape is unique.
Personalised neoantigen therapy tries to take advantage of that uniqueness.
Rather than asking, "Which melanoma antigen can we use for everyone?", the approach asks, "Which abnormal antigens in this individual person's tumour are most likely to provoke an effective immune response?"
It is a profound shift from mass-manufactured medicine towards individually manufactured treatment.
What challenges remain before personalised melanoma vaccines become routine?
Even after positive clinical results, there are practical problems that need to be solved.
Manufacturing time
A conventional drug can sit on a hospital pharmacy shelf. A personalised cancer vaccine cannot.
The tumour must be obtained, sequenced, analysed and converted into an individually manufactured treatment.
Manufacturing capacity
If tens of thousands of patients eventually become eligible, manufacturers will need systems capable of producing thousands of different medicines reliably and simultaneously.
Cost
Sequencing, computational neoantigen selection and individual manufacturing are considerably more complicated than mass-producing one identical medicine.
Even if regulators approve a treatment, health systems will still have to decide whether its additional clinical benefit justifies its cost.
Obtaining suitable tumour material
The technology depends on good-quality tumour tissue and successful molecular analysis.
Choosing the right neoantigens
Not every tumour mutation produces an effective immune target. Predicting which neoantigens will be displayed and recognised by T cells remains an important scientific challenge.
Cancer immune escape
Cancer cells may lose antigens, alter antigen-presentation machinery or create a local environment that suppresses attacking immune cells.
Long-term evidence
Researchers still need mature information about overall survival, long-term toxicity and whether benefits persist over many years.
What should melanoma patients make of the headlines?
There is genuine reason for optimism.
The development has progressed far beyond an experimental vaccine that merely produces immune responses in a handful of patients. There are now randomised clinical data extending to five years and, importantly, a positive phase III study involving more than a thousand people.
At the same time, phrases such as "melanoma vaccine cures cancer" or "new injection prevents skin cancer" go considerably further than the evidence.
A more accurate description is this:
A personalised mRNA cancer treatment designed from the mutations in an individual's melanoma has, when combined with pembrolizumab after surgery, reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence compared with pembrolizumab alone in clinical trials. A large phase III study has now met its major efficacy endpoints, but full results, overall-survival data and regulatory decisions are still awaited.
That is a less dramatic headline, but scientifically it is still a remarkable development.
Frequently asked questions about the melanoma vaccine
What is the name of the Moderna melanoma vaccine?
The personalised treatment is now called intismeran autogene. It was previously known as mRNA-4157 and V940.
Is V940 the same as intismeran?
Yes. V940 and mRNA-4157 are earlier names for the treatment now referred to as intismeran autogene.
Is the melanoma vaccine personalised?
Yes. The mRNA sequence is designed after analysing mutations within the individual patient's tumour.
How many cancer targets can the vaccine contain?
Intismeran can encode as many as 34 patient-specific neoantigens.[3]
How is the melanoma vaccine given?
Intismeran is given by intramuscular injection. In the phase III trial it was administered every three weeks for up to nine doses.[3]
Is Keytruda part of the melanoma vaccine?
No. Pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, is a separate checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapy. The major clinical trials have tested the personalised vaccine together with pembrolizumab.
Can the vaccine be used instead of surgery?
The strongest evidence so far concerns treatment after the melanoma has been completely removed surgically. It should therefore not be interpreted as a replacement for surgery in operable melanoma.
Is the melanoma vaccine chemotherapy?
No. It is an immunotherapy approach. It aims to generate tumour-specific immune responses rather than killing rapidly dividing cells using conventional chemotherapy.
Is the melanoma vaccine available on the NHS?
Intismeran is not yet routinely available through the NHS as of August 2026. NICE has selected the treatment for appraisal but has not yet issued a final recommendation.[5]
Has the phase III melanoma vaccine trial succeeded?
According to topline results announced on 19 August 2026, yes. INTerpath-001 met its primary recurrence-free survival endpoint and its key distant metastasis-free survival endpoint.[3]
Have the full phase III results been published?
No. Detailed results have not yet been published as of 20 August 2026. The companies intend to present them at an international medical meeting.
Does the vaccine improve life expectancy?
It has not yet been conclusively proven to improve overall survival. That endpoint is still being followed in the phase III study.
Can someone without melanoma have the vaccine to prevent skin cancer?
No. The personalised vaccine is manufactured using genetic information from an existing tumour. It is a treatment vaccine, not a conventional preventive vaccine.
The bottom line
The personalised melanoma vaccine is one of the most important developments currently taking place in cancer immunotherapy.
Its significance is not simply that it uses mRNA. The more radical aspect is that doctors may be moving towards a form of medicine in which a tumour is removed, genetically analysed and then used as the blueprint for manufacturing an individual treatment intended for that one patient.
The evidence has strengthened considerably.
The randomised phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 study showed that adding personalised mRNA-4157/V940 to pembrolizumab reduced melanoma recurrence compared with pembrolizumab alone. Those benefits remained evident after approximately five years of follow-up.[1,2]
Now the much larger phase III INTerpath-001 study has also met its recurrence-free and distant-metastasis-free survival endpoints.[3]
That is a major milestone.
But medicine needs the next steps as well: publication of the full phase III results, mature overall-survival data, regulatory review, assessment of long-term safety, and decisions about how a highly personalised treatment could be manufactured affordably and at scale.
The melanoma vaccine is therefore no longer merely a futuristic idea. Neither is it yet a routine injection available from an oncology clinic.
It sits somewhere unusually interesting between the two.
Medical disclaimer
This article is intended for general education and should not be used as a substitute for advice from an oncologist, dermatologist or other qualified healthcare professional. Melanoma treatment depends on the stage of the cancer, pathological features, genetic findings, previous treatment and the health of the individual patient. Anyone diagnosed with melanoma should discuss treatment and clinical-trial options with their own specialist team.
References
- Khattak A, Carlino MS, Meniawy T, et al. Intismeran Autogene Plus Pembrolizumab Versus Pembrolizumab Alone in High-Risk Resected Melanoma: 5-Year Update of the Randomized Phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2026. DOI: 10.1200/JCO-26-00835.
- Weber JS, Carlino MS, Khattak A, et al. Individualised neoantigen therapy mRNA-4157 (V940) plus pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab monotherapy in resected melanoma (KEYNOTE-942): a randomised, phase 2b study. The Lancet. 2024;403:632-644. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02268-7.
- Merck and Moderna. Phase 3 INTerpath-001 Trial of Intismeran Autogene Plus KEYTRUDA Met Endpoints of Recurrence-Free Survival and Distant Metastasis-Free Survival in Patients With Completely Resected Stage IIB-IV Melanoma. Company announcement. 19 August 2026.
- US National Library of Medicine. ClinicalTrials.gov. INTerpath-001: A Clinical Study of Intismeran Autogene (V940) Plus Pembrolizumab in People With High-Risk Melanoma. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05933577.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. V940 with pembrolizumab for adjuvant treatment of resected high-risk stage 2 to 4 melanoma [ID6674]. NICE technology appraisal project.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Talimogene laherparepvec for treating unresectable metastatic melanoma. NICE Technology Appraisal TA410.
- National Cancer Institute. Cancer Treatment Vaccines. National Cancer Institute cancer treatment information.
- Cancer Research UK. Targeted cancer drugs and immunotherapy for melanoma skin cancer.
- National Cancer Institute. Melanoma Treatment (PDQ): Vaccine therapy and emerging melanoma treatments.