At ASCO 2026, Dr Matteo Carlino talks to ecancer about the five-year follow-up data from the phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 trial evaluating the personalised mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with high-risk resected melanoma.

The combination continued to demonstrate durable improvements in recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone, with nearly 69% of patients remaining recurrence-free at five years. A trend towards improved overall survival was also observed, while the safety profile remained consistent with previous analyses.

Dr Carlino notes that these long-term findings support the potential of personalised mRNA-based immunotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence following surgery and have led to ongoing phase III evaluation in melanoma and other tumour types.