The biggest enemy in cancer treatment is recurrence. Even after surgery and chemotherapy, tiny cancer cells that imaging tests cannot detect often remain in the body and grow. This is why the global medical community is focusing on "cancer vaccines." It is a treatment strategy aimed at removing hidden cancer cells to prevent recurrence.
But attempts to develop cancer vaccines have failed repeatedly for more than 20 years. The biggest reason was the difficulty of precisely identifying targets on cancer cells that the immune system should attack. Because the genetic characteristics of cancer cells differ by patient, there were limits to achieving uniform effectiveness.
Recently, however, the pharmaceutical industry has been finding a breakthrough by using artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation genome analysis technologies, and messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. As a result, expectations for the commercialization of cancer vaccines are growing beyond the proof-of-concept stage.
From May 29 to Jun. 2 (local time) in Chicago, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2026) unveiled study results that demonstrate this potential.
U.S. drugmakers MSD and Moderna presented five-year long-term follow-up results for their jointly developed personalized cancer vaccine, "Intismeran Autogene (mRNA-4157/V940)."
In high-risk melanoma patients, when administered in combination with the immunotherapy Keytruda, the risk of recurrence or death fell by 49%, and the risk of distant metastasis or death fell by 59%.
Cancer vaccines differ from vaccines that prevent disease, such as flu or COVID-19 shots. They are closer to therapies for patients who already have cancer, helping immune cells attack cancer cells more effectively.
Intismeran Autogene is considered the closest candidate to commercialization. After analyzing the genetic information of a patient's tumor, AI selects mutation antigens (neoantigens) that exist only on cancer cells, and up to 34 of these are packaged into a vaccine. It is being co-developed with Keytruda, guiding immune cells to recognize cancer cells precisely.
Advances in AI and genome analysis technologies are seen as a turning point for cancer vaccine development. By analyzing a patient's tumor, researchers can now find mutations that exist only on cancer cells, and AI is tasked with selecting targets with a high likelihood of inducing a real immune response from among countless mutation candidates.
mRNA technology, commercialized during the COVID-19 pandemic, has also accelerated cancer vaccine development. Because mRNA can translate mutation antigen information found in each patient's tumor into a vaccine relatively quickly, it is seen as enabling truly personalized treatment strategies.
Accordingly, corporations are rushing into cancer vaccine development.
Germany's BioNTech and Switzerland's Roche are developing the personalized cancer vaccine candidate "BNT122" targeting pancreatic and colorectal cancers. In early research, the cohort that responded to the vaccine showed longer recurrence-free survival, and follow-up clinical trials are underway. Swiss biotech company Nouscom, founded in 2015, has taken on the challenge of developing a preventive cancer vaccine for patients with Lynch syndrome, who have a high genetic risk of cancer.
Of course, there are significant hurdles to commercializing cancer vaccines. Because vaccines must be manufactured individually for each patient, there are manufacturing expense and production time issues. Additional validation is also needed to determine in which cancer types the vaccine will be most effective.
Even so, the reason the global pharmaceutical industry and medical community are focusing on the potential is that, whereas in the past the same vaccine was given to every patient, development has now evolved to a stage that precisely targets the weaknesses of each patient's cancer cells using AI and genome analysis technologies.
Patrick Ott, a leading cancer vaccine expert at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said in a Nature Biotechnology commentary in Mar. that "advances in genomic analysis technology, antigen prediction algorithms, and mRNA delivery platforms have enabled the clinical development of neoantigen cancer vaccines."
Related research is underway in Korea as well. However, unlike global big pharma competing in late-stage clinical trials, domestic efforts are at the platform-building and early research and development stages. The "NeoVax-K Consortium," involving domestic biotech companies, has embarked on developing personalized mRNA cancer vaccines through the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Korea-style ARPA-H project.
Centered on the lead institution Aston Science, participants including Theragen Bio, IMBdx, Genedit, and Korea University Anam Hospital are working to build a personalized cancer vaccine platform targeting pancreatic and colorectal cancers, and pediatric and adolescent cancers.
Industry observers say that if the cancer vaccine era takes off in earnest, AI-based genome analysis, precision diagnostics, and mRNA manufacturing technologies will grow alongside therapeutics.