Amol Akhade, Senior Consultant at Fortis Hospitals Mumbai, shared on LinkedIn:
“Data that we all were looking forward to
First RCT for personalized mRNA vaccine in cancer patients.
ESMO 2026 | INTErpath-001 (LBA1) – as data is released by Esmo
- 24-month RFS: 82.2% vs 70.0%
HR 0.58 (95% CI 0.45–0.75); P<0.001 - 24-month DMFS: 88.5% vs 80.2%
HR 0.62 (95% CI 0.45–0.85); P=0.002 - Grade ≥3 adverse events: 23.6% vs 20.3%
The trial randomized 1,137 patients with resected stage IIB–IV melanoma. Both arms received pembrolizumab; the experimental arm added an individualized mRNA neoantigen therapy.
The key question now: will better recurrence control translate into an overall survival benefit?
Cross trial comparison- benifit looks similar to neoadjuvant pembrolizumab. Looking forward to full dataset on day 2 .
This can be beginning for new treatment options for cancer patients across tumor types.”
You can also read: 20 Posts Not to Miss from ESMO Congress 2026: Day 1
