By Denny Jacob


Moderna Inc. shares rose 20% to $198.20 in early trading after the company said results from a mid-stage clinical trial of a cancer vaccine lowered patients' risk of relapse or death.

The pharmaceutical company said the combination of its personalized cancer vaccine and Merck & Co. Keytruda cancer immunotherapy reduced patients' risk by about 44%, versus Keytruda alone, in the 150-week volunteer study.

The companies said they plan to run a larger study to confirm the combination's safety and efficacy next year. Moderna and Merck also plan to test the combination in other types of cancers.


Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-13-22 1021ET