Eva Muñoz Couselo

The administration of intismeran, a personalised therapeutic cancer vaccine developed from each patient’s tumour, together with pembrolizumab immunotherapy following surgery for high-risk melanoma, reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 42 per cent. This phase 3 clinical trial, funded by Moderna and Merck Sharp & Dohme, involved 1,137 patients at very high risk of recurrence who had undergone surgical removal of their melanoma. The companies released preliminary data in August in a press release, and the full results are due to be presented this Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress being held in Madrid. Ahead of the announcement, the data were leaked yesterday and the share prices of both companies fell. The scientific paper is due to be published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Even though we know it is important to protect ourselves from the sun to reduce the risk of skin cancer, the incidence of melanoma is on the rise in Spain. Why? How common and dangerous is this form of cancer? How can it be treated? In this article, we address key questions about this disease, drawing on expert sources.