On March 5, local time, American vaccine manufacturer Moderna said at an investor conference that the company is expected to launch its first tumor vaccine in 2027. At the close of the day, Moderna's stock price rose nearly 16%.

Moderna is developing a personalized tumor vaccine with Merck and has conducted late-stage clinical trials on patients with severe skin cancer (melanoma). Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said at an investor conference on Wednesday that the first tumor vaccine may have the opportunity to bring "considerable revenue" to the company.

Moderna released interim research data on the vaccine as early as the end of 2023, showing that the possibility of death or cancer recurrence in melanoma patients treated with this vaccine and Merck's cancer therapy Keytruda was reduced by half.

This tumor vaccine is based on Moderna's mRNA technology. Previously, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have proven that they can activate the body's immune response by delivering them to the human body through genetic coding. Based on the success of the COVID-19 vaccine, researchers believe that the same principle should also be able to be verified in the fight against tumors. By vaccinating the tumor vaccine, the human body will be able to activate the immune system to attack tumor cells.

However, unlike ordinary vaccines that prevent diseases from occurring after vaccination, the tumor vaccine being developed by companies such as Moderna is a therapeutic vaccine that, as a cancer treatment, prompts the immune system to destroy cancer cells, thereby preventing the recurrence of tumors.

If Moderna's tumor vaccine can be launched in 2027, it will also put the company at the forefront of the competition. Moderna's direct competitor BioNTech is also developing vaccines for colorectal cancer, melanoma and other cancers, but the company previously expected that the mRNA tumor vaccine might not be available until around 2030.

Both Moderna and BioNTech are facing severe challenges from the decline of the COVID-19 vaccine. Investors hope that the latest tumor vaccine can bring a turnaround to the company's sales growth. Moderna's stock price has fallen by more than two-thirds in the past year.

Last September, Moderna announced a cut of more than $1 billion in research and development expenses, causing its stock price to plummet. Due to the rapid decline in the new crown vaccine business, Moderna plans to cut research and development expenses by $1.1 billion to $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion by 2027, lower than the previous estimate of $4.8 billion.

But Moderna still expects that 10 new products will be approved by 2027, including this tumor vaccine jointly developed with Merck. The company said that with the launch of more new products, the compound annual growth rate from 2026 to 2028 will exceed 25%.

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