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Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA melanoma therapy improved recurrence-free survival by 42% against Keytruda alone — a bar three earlier studies had all failed to clear.
Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick that long-term investors will come around to that data even though the stock barely moved on the news.
"We think it's a landmark study. It was a 42% improvement versus Keytruda. For context, there were three large studies done before us trying to improve on Keytruda, and they all failed."
Stéphane, who has spent years pushing Moderna's mRNA platform past its single COVID success story, said the hardest part of that effort is already behind the company: proving the platform could produce one approved drug at all.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 3 takeaways that matter.
Bloomberg Talks · Oct 26, 2026
With Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna
Key Takeaways
A 42% improvement in recurrence-free survival against Keytruda alone clears a bar three earlier studies all failed to reach
Last week's pre-ESMO leak did not come from Merck or Moderna, Stéphane said, and he expects long-term investors to come around to the data within weeks
The mechanism — new T-cells built to attack the tumor — could extend beyond melanoma, into cancers including kidney cancer, using manufacturing that needs no patient cells at all
1. A Landmark Beats the Odds
Stéphane was asked about the Phase 3 melanoma data for Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA therapy, presented at ESMO Madrid.
A 42% improvement in recurrence-free survival beat a bar three prior studies had all missed
"We think it's a landmark study. It was a 42% improvement versus Keytruda. For context, there were three large studies done before us trying to improve on Keytruda, and they all failed." — Stéphane Bancel
He expects the data to improve further with more follow-up time, the way the Phase 2 results did.
