Last month Moderna reported the first individualized cancer vaccine to pass a Phase 3. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel and a16z's Jorge Conde on what that actually means: The treatment works by sequencing a patient’s tumor and healthy cells, identifying the mutations relevant to their cancer, and encoding up to 34 of them into an mRNA specific to the individual. Rather than simply unleashing the immune system, the goal is to teach it what to recognize and attack. In this conversation, they unpack the engineering challenge of manufacturing a different medicine for every patient, how Moderna has brought the process down to roughly 42 days from biopsy to treatment, and what it would take to manufacture personalized medicines at scale. 00:00 Intro 02:35 A Phase 3 that beat the standard of care 06:00 Why today's immunotherapy fails 40% of patients 09:35 A vaccine for cancer you already have 11:20 Why mRNA worked where 1,000 trials failed 13:15 90% of cancer antigens are unique to you 16:35 Why this vaccine only gets better from here 21:00 The only thing Moderna needs is your DNA sequence 22:20 Why the first robot was intentionally inefficient 27:10 How the FDA approves a drug that's different every time 33:05 A cancer treatment with the side effects of a flu shot 33:30 Why pancreatic cancer is worth a risk 36:30 Rare liver disease next, then autoimmune YouTube: @moderna_tx @JorgeCondeBio