Personalis and Moderna Sign New Agreement To Leverage NeXT Platform™ in Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccine Clinical Trials

Personalis, Inc., a leader in advanced genomics for precision oncology, and Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, have announced the companies have signed a new agreement to continue using the Personalis NeXT Platform® as part of upcoming clinical studies evaluating mRNA-4157/V940, an investigational personalized cancer vaccine, jointly developed by Moderna and Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada. The platform, which was also utilized in the vaccine candidate’s Phase 2b clinical study, will be used to sequence genomic information from a patient’s tumor sample to identify the unique genetic mutations that are most likely to generate a tailored antitumor response.

“For years, we have been at the forefront of working with pharmaceutical partners, including Moderna, to apply our NeXT Platform to the sequencing of personalized cancer vaccines,” said Chris Hall, president of Personalis. “We are thrilled to enter a new agreement with Moderna and support the next stage of clinical development for this program.”

“We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Personalis on our personalized cancer vaccine program, with the goal of helping to bring truly individualized cancer treatment to patients,” said Melanie Ivarsson, Moderna’s chief development officer.