About the intismeran presentation at #ESMO26# $MRNA $MRK My impression of discussant talk given by Inge Marie Svane of the University of Copenhagen was that she was positive if not overly enthusiastic about INTerpath-001. "Measured" might be the best, single adjective. "Brutal" is how an investor in the audience described the tone of her talk to me. (He was short Moderna, so there's that.) I disagree. Brutal is too harsh. If people were expecting Svane to jump for joy, then yes, she did not meet that expectation. To me, she played it mostly straight down the middle. She took no position on the mRNA vaccine vs neoadjuvant debate. (Slide below) She noted the lack of intismerna OS benefit, but said the same about neoadjuvant therapy. She also noted greater toxicity associated with neoadjuvant. For intismeran, Svane also raised the question about what exactly was driving the vaccine’s benefit — was it the specific targeting of the neoantigens, or was it the general immune boost that studies have suggested mRNA vaccines generally provide?

MERCK SAYS INTISMERAN PLUS KEYTRUDA SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THE RISK OF RECURRENCE OR DEATH BY 42% COMPARED TO KEYTRUDA ALONE, WITH A 58% REDUCTION IN ANOTHER MEASURE, AND THAT THE SAFETY PROFILE WAS GENERALLY CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUSLY REPORTED STUDIES OF THE COMBINATION

Today we announced that three abstracts on intismeran autogene, our investigational mRNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy, have been accepted for presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology (@myESMO) Congress 2026, which will be held October 23–27 in Madrid, Spain. Read more:  #ESMO26#

I spoke with Moderna $MRNA CEO Stéphane Bancel about intismeran and what's next for the cancer vaccine and the biotech he runs. "We know the clinical impact in the Phase 3 study is real and big, so we need to go and be aggressive. We need to explore the biology. There will be some risk, because it’s not going to work everywhere." Read the Q&A: #ESMO26#

$TEM expanded its multi year deal with $MRNA and $MRK to support potential commercialization of intismeran autogene with sequencing and sample logistics tied to each patient. Great to see Tempus moving directly into therapy design and manufacturing with a test tied to every treatment and a relationship that becomes much harder to replace once built into the process.

Moderna $MRNA shares surged dramatically after positive Phase 3 results for its personalized mRNA vaccine intismeran combined with Merck’s Keytruda, extending recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival in high-risk melanoma patients post-surgery. The treatment targets neoantigens from each patient’s tumor to train the immune system against cancer return, marking the first successful late-stage trial for an individualized mRNA cancer therapy rather than a broad preventive. The announcement drove massive market cap gains for Moderna, highlighting renewed investor optimism in mRNA applications beyond COVID vaccines and potential expansion to other cancers like lung and bladder.

For the $MRNA haters, I wrote this yesterday... The intismeran study was positive, so why did Moderna’s stock price plunge? When Wall Street meets a medical meeting, strange things can happen. This is especially true when investors were already expecting very big things to happen. The situation that Moderna (the stock, not the company) finds itself in at ESMO is what’s referred to by folks who sit in front of Bloomberg terminals all day as a “sell on the news event.” Stock prices often reflect future events and possibilities, and Moderna, which added $60 billion in market value just on the August intismeran press release, alone, had already priced in a lot of the therapy’s revenue upside. If we’re being totally honest, Moderna’s tripled stock price and $90 billion market value overpriced the most optimistic intismeran business case. By how much is debatable, but to use more Wall Street jargon, the stock had gotten way ahead of itself. So, that’s why Moderna’s stock price plunged 17% on Thursday when the intismeran data leaked. As this newsletter was put together, the stock was down another 1% Friday. That’s actually pretty good. “This was a positive trial, and a very important outcome for patients and the field,” Jedd Wolchok, director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine and an immunotherapy pioneer, told STAT on Friday. “I don’t quite understand what the reason for the disappointment was, but you know, I don’t pretend to be smarter than a biotech analyst.” This is not to say that the INTerpath-001 study leaves all questions answered. There will be debates. But investors on Wall Street and oncologists in Madrid are not always on the same wavelength. “Taking a step back, the data were very much in line with expectations,” said Mizuho health care strategist Jared Holz, who graciously spoke to STAT Friday while touring colleges with his kid. “From the Wall Street perch, this was always going to be a tricky set-up for the stock given a parabolic move over the past month coupled with a $100 billion market value coming into ESMO.”

$MRNA | Bernstein SocGen Group 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 on 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮, maintains PT at $𝟰𝟱 Analyst sees Intismeran as the clearest mRNA platform validation, with expansion now the key question.

Moderna and @Merck today announced positive topline results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial evaluating adjuvant treatment with intismeran autogene, a novel investigational mRNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy jointly developed by Merck and Moderna, in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with completely resected Stage IIB-IV melanoma. Read more:

Earlier today, Moderna and Merck presented 5-year follow-up data for intismeran autogene in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in patients with high-risk melanoma at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Watch our latest IR Insights video below to hear more from our CEO Stéphane Bancel and Chief Development Officer David Berman about these results. #ASCO2026# #ASCO26#