The inside story of Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine triumph | STAT
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STAT Plus<br>Special Report
Inside Moderna and Merck’s cancer vaccine triumph
The drugmakers overcame rampant doubts, logistical challenges, and the pandemic
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Camille MacMillin/STAT
By Matthew Herper, Jason Mast, and Angus Chen<br>Aug. 24, 2026
Matthew Herper
[email protected]
Matthew Herper covers medical innovation — both its promise and its perils.
Jason Mast
[email protected]
Jason is a general assignment reporter, with particular focus on genetic medicine and rare disease. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at JasonMast.77.
Angus Chen
[email protected]
Angus reports on the basic research, clinical science, and drug development that may transform survival and quality of life for patients, as well as developments affecting the cancer community. You can reach Angus on Signal at angus.08.
At an off-site leadership meeting held by Moderna in March 2023 — after mid-stage results of the biotech company’s cancer vaccine showed promise — CEO Stéphane Bancel had the floor. He asked if any of the 100 or so executives present had expected the experimental treatment to succeed. If they did, he said, please stand up.
Stephen Hoge, Moderna’s president, was standing on stage. He sat down. Then, Hoge recalled in an interview with STAT, Bancel sat down, too.<br>Advertisement
“None of us believed it,” Hoge said. It had taken time before he remembers feeling, “Oh my gosh. This is real.”
The rest of the world remained skeptical until last Wednesday, when Moderna and Merck revealed that a 1,137-volunteer study had shown the vaccine reduced the odds that melanoma that had been surgically removed would return or spread. Up to that point, investors were betting against Moderna’s stock. Even after the news, some observers argue researchers should wait for fuller data — while longtime skeptics of Moderna’s core mRNA technology do the same.
Top-line results from large pharmaceutical firms are rarely reversed when full data emerge, but doubt is nothing new for Moderna’s cancer treatment, called intismeran autogene. It has always been the breakthrough no one quite believed in.
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biotechnology, Cancer, drug development, Merck, Moderna, Pharmaceuticals, STAT+
Submit a correction requestReprints
Matthew Herper
Senior Writer, Medicine, Editorial Director of Events
Matthew Herper covers medical innovation — both its promise and its perils.
Jason Mast
General Assignment Reporter
Jason is a general assignment reporter, with particular focus on genetic medicine and rare disease. Confidential tips can be sent on Signal at JasonMast.77.
Angus Chen
Cancer Reporter
Angus reports on the basic research, clinical science, and drug development that may transform survival and quality of life for patients, as well as developments affecting the cancer community. You can reach Angus on Signal at angus.08.
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