Merck & Co. Inc. MRK, -0.42% and Moderna Inc. MRNA, +8.76% said Wednesday that they plan to jointly develop and commercialize a personalized cancer vaccine. The investigational vaccine is currently being tested in a Phase 2 clinical trial as a treatment for patients with high-risk melanoma in combination with Merck’s Keytrduda, an anti-PD-1 therapy that has been approved to treat several types of cancer. It is Merck’s best-selling drug, with $5.2 billion in revenue in 2021. The companies first began working together in 2016; the newest announcement is because Merck exercised its option to jointly develop the vaccine. Merck will pay Moderna $250 million, and the companies plan to share costs and profits going forward. So far this year, Merck’s stock is up 18.8%, and Moderna’s shares have tumbled 52.4%. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.02% has declined 24.7%.
