Moderna jumps as personalized cancer vaccine shows benefit in early study

Moderna shares rose 8 per cent in morning trade on Tuesday after the company's individualized cancer vaccine developed with Merck, showed positive response in an early-stage trial in patients with a type of head and neck cancer.

The vaccine is designed to train the immune system to recognize and attack specific mutations in cancer cells.

"The data continue to validate the individualized therapy platform and suggests it could potentially work in indications outside melanoma," Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said in a note.

Moderna is testing its experimental messenger RNA cancer vaccine with Merck's Keytruda in patients with melanoma, the most deadly skin cancer.

Data on the 28-patient study was reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting at San Diego on Monday.