One of the most consequential year for cancer treatment, ever

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

This story first appeared in Adam’s Biotech Scorecard, a subscriber-only newsletter. STAT+ subscribers can sign up here to get it delivered to their inbox.

Twenty-four hours later, my brain is still whirling over yesterday’s stunning news from Merck and Moderna about the success of their personalized mRNA cancer therapy in a melanoma late-stage clinical trial.

I posted this on X yesterday but it’s worth repeating here: Between this spring’s Revolution Medicines success with a KRAS-targeted drug and now Merck and Moderna’s success with an mRNA neoantigen vaccine, 2026 will go down as one of the most consequential years in cancer treatment, ever.

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