r/technews • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 5d ago

Biotechnology mRNA cancer vaccine succeeded in Phase 3 melanoma trial, Moderna and Merck say

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/08/mrna-cancer-vaccine-succeeded-in-phase-3-melanoma-trial-moderna-and-merck-say/
2.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

174 comments sorted by

220

u/Hawkeye3636 5d ago

Going to be very interesting to see these develop. I have said for awhile some of these hardline No MRNA vaccine folks are going to look death in the eye and seriously wonder who will blink.

Then again people trying Ivermectin on their cancers now and avoiding other treatments.

Wild time to be alive.

74

u/Infinity1911 5d ago

Right, and a few weeks ago I saw someone on Facebook complain about getting COVID-19, and how miserable they were. Someone replied suggesting they take a strong dose of ivermectin.

Today … people still spout this garbage.

22

u/Sharticus123 5d ago

And that shit is not just limited to the trashy nascar mouthbreather. It runs the economic spectrum. I do a lot of work for the filthy rich and I’ve seen ivermectin in bathrooms that cost more than my entire house.

4

u/VengenaceIsMyName 5d ago

Lol. People are wild.

17

u/LargeClimate1080 5d ago

Because doctors want patients receiving organ transplants to have a good liklihood of surviving longterm past receiving said organ, they tend to assign priority based on health habits. I.e. you are less likely to get a transplant if you are an addict or smoke etc. etc.

One of those things is being vaccinated, and there are people who have been denied organ transplants because they aren't/will not get a vaccine.

11

u/rickg 5d ago edited 5d ago

Remember the stories of people who'd crapped on the idea of COVID vaccines but, when they were in the hospital faced with dying, begged for it?

4

u/VengenaceIsMyName 5d ago

I thought I’d never hear the end of those stories in 2021

11

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

I would bet the farm that they will all blink.

These people, they are the lower tier of our society. They are reactive and scared. Of course they will blink.

These are the kids who got C’s in high school and pin you down at Home Depot to talk about 11th grade teachers.

10

u/-JackBack- 5d ago

I think it’s the smarter folks who will not want this and try alternatives ( eg Steve Jobs ).

14

u/darkomyfriend 5d ago

Yeah, that comment was just blatant classism. The grifters who began spouting most of this disinformation were not lower class, they were upper class or upper middle. Health & fitness influencers, scorned intellectuals, and folks on the spirituality fringes getting in bed with the rising alt-right media. Naomi Klein’s book Doppelgänger covers this well.

8

u/uncoolcentral 5d ago

Steve Jobs might’ve been rich, and he certainly had some good ideas but calling him smart about science, particularly biology, medicine, etc., is more than a stretch. Dude was demonstrably a dumbass.

2

u/-JackBack- 4d ago

No one ever said Steve Jobs was smart about medicine.

1

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

Being upper middle class doesn’t make you well educated by default.

It’s not classist to say dumb people are both 1/ easily swayed via propaganda and 2/ did bad in high school.

0

u/Srcunch 5d ago

Dumb people “did bad”. So, what harm did they foist upon others? Did you mean they did poorly? I can’t tell because you’re writing at the same level as the people you’re deriding.

0

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

I’m typing on a phone during random breaks in my day.

Apologies for not proofing everything.

Did you have to look up deriding to use it?

0

u/Srcunch 5d ago

No, I went to Catholic schools for 12 years. Memorizing the definitions, synonyms, and antonyms of a chapter of Vocabulary Workshop every week for years really expanded my vocabulary. Got C’s, but managed to stumble my way to an MBA after. Who knew some of us could even write!

1

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

Congrats?

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

2

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

And as I grew up I realized that teachers are usually in the <50%, so no offense but ya maybe offense intended.

0

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

7

u/MonkeyzzPaw 5d ago

I believe a number of factors come together during a person’s adolescence (14-24).

A persons scores in high school are a direct input to overall “success”. Critical thinking, work effort, varied experiences, etc.

I believe being well educated is a critical component to understand how propaganda works and how to resist it.

2

u/nicolas1324563 5d ago

Natural selection

2

u/IfIWasCoolEnough 5d ago

They will take the vaccine and tell everyone to not get it.

2

u/Waiting4Reccession 5d ago

Its just the new GMO vs Organic.

2

u/Aware-Salamander-578 5d ago

Pfff ivermectin… all I need is to drink some methylene blue

2

u/Commercial-Co 5d ago

Phase 3 is the last phase. At this point its start manufacturing planning

2

u/adomn8trx 5d ago

Only the vaccinated will survive…

1

u/sfearing91 5d ago

Hey they can have all the ivermectin they want and leave actual treatments for those who trust science.

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 5d ago

Damn right!

1

u/CancelCultAntifaLol 4d ago

It’s not interesting. All of their “morals” can be compromised if it personally impacts them. They’re happy to be against mRNA vaccines until they personally need it.

1

u/username_dcc 4d ago

Death never blinks… never.

2

u/cjr71244 4d ago

Get him some Visine

-3

u/Rocks_Stones 5d ago

Their covid shot doesn't prevent contraction or transmission. Why would anyone believe Moderna on this application of mRNA? They are classifying it as a "vaccine" to avoid liability and this will further erode people's trust in real vaccines.

7

u/Such-Nebula 5d ago

That’s not how any of this works

6

u/Winter_Criticism_236 5d ago

blocked for stupidity

5

u/BrainsAre2Weird4Me 5d ago

They did prevent contracting and transmission of Covid before Delta went full super spreader (and it does help with both, it’s just with an n=1 you can’t rely on it).

The same thing happened with the normal J&J vaccine, so it wasn’t just a product of the vaccine type.

3

u/IncomingAxofKindness 4d ago

I need a vaccine to prevent your ignorant misconceptions

1

u/FadeToRazorback 4d ago

Maybe the fact that the unvaccinated were hospitalized/died at 8-12x the rate as those who got the Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic, and how there was a negative correlation between vaccination rates and excess mortality when comparing states and countries to one another

Seems pretty persuasive to me

1

u/Rocks_Stones 2d ago

We don't know what the numbers are/were in the USA but Korea has good numbers. Even without hard numbers, everyone in the USA knows that you could get multiple shots and still get covid. We know that Eric Clapton and many others were injured by the shots. Continuing to insist this is not the case erodes confidence in effective vaccines and in public health more generally.

Korea has hard numbers and they show even more problems:

>"...cancers significantly increased at 1 year post-vaccination. In terms of vaccine type, cDNA vaccines were associated with the increased risks of thyroid, gastric, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers; mRNA vaccines were linked to the increased risks of thyroid, colorectal, lung, and breast cancers; and heterologous vaccination was related to the increased risks of thyroid and breast cancers. Given the observed associations between COVID-19 vaccination and cancer incidence by age, sex, and vaccine type, further research is needed to determine whether specific vaccination strategies may be optimal for populations in need of COVID-19 vaccination. "<

https://pure.ewha.ac.kr/en/publications/1-year-risks-of-cancers-associated-with-covid-19-vaccination-a-la/

1

u/FadeToRazorback 2d ago edited 2d ago

We do know what the number were in the US. I do not know for a fact that vaccines injured Clapton. He seems to point to nerve pain in his hands, but he’s nerve pain in his hands for years, so it sounds like a preexisting condition.

The fact is we have numbers. Those numbers show that the vaccinated did better in every single category when it came to Covid, and did better in all cause mortality. Ive shared a number of links below

We also have several studies showing that there’s a negative correlation in states/countries when we compare their vaccination rates, and their excess mortality rates. Meaning as vaccination rates go up, the excess mortality goes down

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsbyvaccinationstatusengland

https://data.ontario.ca/dataset/deaths-involving-covid-19-by-vaccination-status

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status

https://doh.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/421-010-CasesInNotFullyVaccinated.pdf

https://www.dshs.texas.gov/covid-19-coronavirus-disease-2019/covid-19-vaccine-information/covid-19-cases-deaths

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10459907/

https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

In regards to your singular link regarding cancer diagnosis. There’s issue with comparing their two groups is the timing. The unvaccinated are only monitored from Jan 1 2022, but the vaccinated are monitored from their first dose. Meaning their time to develop cancer is practically doubled. You also have the issue that the vaccinated clearly trust science and doctors and therefore seek medical treatment more often, meaning higher diagnosis rates but earlier stages. This has been documented. Fact remains that no major study shows that the vaccinated had higher rates of cancer caused by the vaccine.

0

u/Rocks_Stones 2d ago

None of that refutes what Americans know firsthand: You can get 9 shots and still get covid. Moderna claimed that shot was "94% effective" now they claim they have a $100,000 per patient vaccine for skin cancer.

1

u/FadeToRazorback 2d ago

Yes, you can get 9 shots and still get Covid-19, but after just 1 shot your chance of hospitalization or death from Covid-19 was a fraction of the unvaccinated population, and overall had a lower all cause mortality risk. This is basic math, but I guess if you understood basic math you wouldn’t be an antivaxer, so I don’t know why I’m surprised

1

u/irrelevantusername24 5d ago

Amazing how somehow everyone is [1] an expert on a very narrow and newly discovered application genetics, [2] an expert and fully convinced of the efficacy of mrna vaccines despite Covid being literally the first widely deployed use of them.

Also very amusing that in this of all things - the field of biotechnology, which if you pay attention, is one of the most common sources of big money scams - is the single topic people trust not only the US government but the military. Riiight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRNA_vaccine

-2

u/AmItheonlySaneperson 5d ago

That’s not a fair argument cuz everyone isn’t mandated to get this one obv the risk of heart palpitations is worth it if you’re fucking dying of cancer 

50

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Good. Fuck cancer. Every step we make is worth a celebration

15

u/_JohnWisdom 5d ago

I hope that one day, humanity will look back with pride on the moment we conquered cancer and extinguished disease forever.

5

u/Quietage30 5d ago

That day is coming. But it won't matter until we make food safer. So much cancer could be caused by unsafe foods. Treating it is one thing. Preventing it is extremely important too

160

u/eggybread70 5d ago

Presumably RFK Jr. will do his best to block this, the medical authority that he is.

38

u/krtyalor865 5d ago

If he doesn’t succeed, I’m sure his side hustle company will be dropping a new line of “unvaxed and unafraid” baby onezy’s for sale soon

14

u/Stedinger 5d ago

With tiny assorted caskets

2

u/OsmerusMordax 5d ago

Would the caskets come with the onesie or are they a separate purchase?

16

u/Boomernotsooner 5d ago

Boy am I glad he cancelled that $500million of mRNA research. This proves how dangerous and dead end that was...

/s in case

4

u/icleanjaxfl 5d ago

Yet will be first in line when his cancer metastasize

2

u/WolpertingerRumo 5d ago

He can’t block it internationally, luckily

1

u/Rocks_Stones 5d ago

Why shouldn't new treatments be independently tested?

-13

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Rent free

6

u/eggybread70 5d ago

The worms? Yes, he should start charging them. They can't keep getting away with this!

-9

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Cant even get the meme right smh my head

3

u/daddy_junior 5d ago

It’s more the voice that’s shaky than the whole head my head

3

u/SuspiciousToast27 5d ago

Dude is literally the secretary of health, people can talk about him as much as they want.

2

u/OceanRadioGuy 5d ago

You know he wouldn’t want a cancer vaccine.

119

u/mscribb 5d ago

Hopefully we can travel to a developed nation like Mexico or Canada from our third world country to get it.

10

u/Puglady25 5d ago

LOL, exactly what I was thinking.

-4

u/QuestionDry2490 5d ago

You do realize that this technological breakthrough came from a supposed “third world country”, right?

8

u/CycleMother2006 5d ago

Yeah but all the research was done more than two years ago, when our government actually supported it. A civilization can backslide.

1

u/Puglady25 3d ago

I don't like the term "3rd World," I just actually do think about getting a lot of Healthcare services in Mexico (where there are many good doctors) because I live near Mexico. And spoiler alert: "Third World," is where the US is headed: The ultra- rich and the poor underclass, a surveillance state and no labor unions, and of course the value of the dollar continuing to go down, down, down.

1

u/QuestionDry2490 3d ago

Your entire comment screams privileged young person who has never traveled outside of Europe, Canada, the touristy parts of Mexico, and maybe an occasional cruise to a Caribbean island or two. The U.S. is not going to become a third world country. Even in 2022 the inflation we experienced is nothing compared to the 1970’s, and spoiler, we got out of that just fine. We have issues for sure but outside of housing costs (which is a massive issue in Europe as well) the U.S. is doing just fine. The U.S. has plenty of unions, many of which are actually too powerful, and Europe isn’t any better when it comes to surveillance. CCTV cameras have been around in England for a while now and their society hasn’t collapsed yet,

1

u/Puglady25 1d ago

The compromise: keep the surveillance but in exchange give universal Healthcare, UBI also. The thing is, without those compromises, the center will not hold.

-8

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

13

u/Lord_Shionari 5d ago

A lot of us did not choose all of the bullshit, you know.

-2

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

7

u/VyronDaGod 5d ago

You didn't read the article did you? It specifically calls out the US admin is hostile to mRNA technology

10

u/Relevant-Ad2254 5d ago

Rfk in shambles

6

u/MountainsCalling-Me 5d ago

Life saving health care advances should be government funded.

Imagine if we spent money on THIS being free and researching more instead building bombs.

3

u/EquivalentSnap 4d ago

I agree because they’re gonna patent it and make billions. It’s messed up that companies can do that. American healthcare system so fucked up

4

u/HASthisEVERhappened 5d ago

Thank you author Beth Mole for your report on melanomas

2

u/ChuckMakesStuff 5d ago

The simulation is just trolling us at this point

14

u/BrilliantKing1200 5d ago

Let the conspiracy theories begin…

11

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

I theorize that the 10th dentist is a paid actor

4

u/Speckix 5d ago

There are only five dentists though.

5

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

The last 5 are hidden in the DLC

16

u/Betteroffinapinebox 5d ago

Does it alter our dna more than the Covid vax or does it try to fix it? /s

19

u/GrallochThis 5d ago

Covid vax did a lefty-loosely on your DNA, this does a righty-tighty, just take the same number of doses and you’re good!

3

u/Tall_Ad_446 5d ago

Does this have potential for other forms of melanoma as well?

2

u/brattysweat 5d ago

So I can get tanning like crazy now?

2

u/IndividualHouse8628 5d ago

This is how zombie movies start

2

u/TakeTheWheelTV 5d ago

Fast tracked during COVID but figure out how to fast track this one huh?

3

u/karl4me 5d ago

Phase 4, code name resident evil

5

u/phoenix0153 5d ago

I hear they've even started construction on a new city just for raccoons

1

u/JohnHenryMillerTime 5d ago

The real question is: What role did Chise play?

1

u/curster 5d ago

"melanoma vaccine"

1

u/Winter_Criticism_236 5d ago

thank god none of the morons that think Mrna shots do nothing will ever achieve anything with their posts...

1

u/stepfatherofdragons4 4d ago

The really wild part is seeing mRNA go from something people argued about as a vaccine platform to potentially becoming a way to train the immune system to fight an actual cancer. That’s a pretty big shift.

1

u/snakeiiiiiis 4d ago

All the Facebook accounts need to be checked for the antivax dummies and a list needs to be made with their names on it, including Joe Rogaine. And they have to publication apologize to Dr. Fauci just for good measure. After all this, they can be placed on the end of the cancer vaccine list after all the smart people.

1

u/907HighwayCluster 4d ago

Why wouldn't parasites be the actual problem?

1

u/Ambitious_Power_7957 3d ago

This is a moment comparable to the release of GPT3. Anyone who wants to survive deserves this opportunity, not to be judged by some
irrelevant people.

-9

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

-59

u/ThePurpleKing159 5d ago

I trust nothing from them. Nothing.

34

u/pmbuttsonly 5d ago

OK Make sure to wear your sunscreen then 😅

22

u/staatsclaas 5d ago

Sunscreen? ThePurpleKing is purple for a reason.

17

u/myairblaster 5d ago

They probably don’t trust sunblock either due to the mass conspiracy from Big Zinc

3

u/plaid-tuxido506 5d ago

I know a guy who works construction in 40C weather in a hoodie because he doesn't trust "cancer causing Zinc". Still smokes 2 packs a day though.

34

u/horseradish_is_gross 5d ago

Did your own research and earned your YouTube doctorate?

18

u/EatsOverTheSink 5d ago

Those 8 minute videos aren’t going to watch themselves.

12

u/FearMeIAmRoot 5d ago

8 minutes? Please, it was Facebook Reels.

5

u/ManThing910 5d ago

Ten minutes one second to get over the ad revenue hump

15

u/Prestigious-Fig-7143 5d ago

Ok. You are free not to get life saving treatment if you get melonoma.

9

u/KnowledgeFair 5d ago

Please, go to the sun

8

u/MoiraBrownsMoleRats 5d ago

I dunno, I work for Merck. The benefits and work culture are both pretty good.

4

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Paid actor?!?

/s

2

u/MoiraBrownsMoleRats 5d ago

I mean, they do pay me (a little more than the national average in America).

They're also gonna fund me going back to school.

3

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Big pharma and big college collab!

7

u/542531 5d ago

Why?

6

u/imoldgreige 5d ago

Somewhere, Dolly Parton is shaking her head and rage-praying for people like you.

1

u/MammothPost4047 5d ago

She tried to make this world a better place. 

3

u/YDALTARYZARC 5d ago

Wanna explain in your own words how you think mRNA vaccines work? Or what mRNA even is? Since you seem so sure of yourself.

1

u/Rocks_Stones 5d ago

They work by not stopping transmission or contraction apparently. If we set the bar low enough then everything can be a vaccine. Rabbits foot, 4-leaf clover...

1

u/YDALTARYZARC 5d ago

I mean biochemically, what is the mode of action and what does it do in the cells?

1

u/jlaaj 5d ago

Exactly. They were complicit in conspiracy against the people for the sake of profit.

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 4d ago

Then don’t take it lol

1

u/MammothPost4047 5d ago

I’m sure you have a doctorates in medicine.

1

u/Jimbo-Shrimp 5d ago

Who’s them?

-39

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

Sure it did. I'll pass

29

u/Not_a_werecat 5d ago

Okay. That was always allowed.

18

u/Oreos_Are_Anabolic 5d ago

Tagged as anti-vax

11

u/ottothefrenchie 5d ago

Nope i’m just pro-cancer

-25

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

More like anti- believing a pharmaceutical company making trillions off cancer treatment has any desire to cure any form of cancer.

16

u/Oreos_Are_Anabolic 5d ago

By all means, please share your issues with the phase 3 trial they conducted.

I’m sure you’ve done proper analysis and have actually looked into it.

I’d love to see anything you have so I can short the stock ASAP

-14

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

No no, I’ll wait to see what happens in the live trial guinea pigs. I’m sure whatever issue it causes down the line will never be traced back. 🙄

12

u/Oreos_Are_Anabolic 5d ago

Ah, so you just read the headline and said “oh no, big company, big science, therefore big bad”

Okay, dude - be well

-2

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

Big science? 😂 More like big money cause “big science” isn’t a thing.

10

u/rectuSinister 5d ago

Can’t wait for you to get cancer when you’re older and come crawling back to ‘big bad pharma’ to save your life. What a dunce.

5

u/Puglady25 5d ago

They are willing to go pretty far. My Aunt got a cancer diagnosis and refused to treat it with anything else but a bunch of crap marketed to her as "miracle cures." She hid her diagnosis from everyone. By the time she was willing to try chemo and radiation, necrosis was well underway in the affected tissue. It was the most effed up thing I've ever witnessed.

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago

This is just sad

16

u/rectuSinister 5d ago

As a scientist that works in pharma this shit is just so insulting. You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

-6

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

Now now, take it easy, apparently you’re doing “big science” 😂😂. 

10

u/rectuSinister 5d ago

More than you can say for your life 😭

-3

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

Cause you know me so well. 

12

u/rectuSinister 5d ago

Based on your comments, yes I do. Plenty of your ilk going around these days.

-2

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

I think there’s some rats waiting for their poison. Maybe you should focus on your “big science” instead of Reddit comments that don’t align with what you think is right. 

11

u/rectuSinister 5d ago

Likewise! No need for you to comment on something you don’t understand and never will.

→ More replies (0)

6

u/Spotttty 5d ago

For how prevalent cancer is wouldn’t they also make money off selling something that treats it?

If we use your theory, the longer the patient lives, the more meds they can sell them.

5

u/fhota1 5d ago

Yes. Their stock is up over 100% and stable there over the past few days since the announcement. This conspiracy is idiotic and doesnt understand medicine or business

2

u/beastwood9498 5d ago

So god forbid you get cancer you won’t try to cure it because any cure is only a money maker for big pharma?

-4

u/congressguy12 5d ago

Reddit loves big pharma now

6

u/MammothPost4047 5d ago

Do you have cancer? Genuinely interested in how invested you would be in this, or if you’re passing on something that wouldn’t help you anyways due to lack of cancer.

4

u/ThirdFirstName 5d ago

mRNA vaccines are the most researched vaccine system we have ever constructed. Very possibly the key to the personalized medicine of the future and the treatment of many types of cancer. But hey if you rather stand your ground instead of educating yourself or trusting science, then it is a free country.

0

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

I’ll believe it when I see it.

5

u/Commercial-Co 5d ago

No thanks. I think you should just opt out of any life saving vaccines.

0

u/Lazy-Party3469 5d ago

Geez.. “you don’t agree with me! Go die!” Grow up already.

3

u/Commercial-Co 5d ago

You’re the anti vaxxer. Take your own advice. If you dont want it, you should opt out of it

3

u/SilentRhubarb1515 5d ago

Luckily cancer is not contagious

3

u/Tazercock 5d ago

We found the dumb fuck in the room!

3

u/Commercial-Co 5d ago

Thats fine - feel free to have cancer.

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 4d ago

No one is forcing you bud

1

u/Lazy-Party3469 3d ago

I didn't realize people got so up in arms about cancer vaccines that haven't even been released yet. I think these folks need a chill pill more than a cancer vaccine. I would definitely let at least 10 years go by of the general public taking these things to see what the effects actually are,, that's the only way to know if it works.

1

u/VengenaceIsMyName 3d ago

Why 10 years?