Moderna's cancer vaccine reminds us of the vast potential of mRNA medicine:
An experimental mRNA vaccine allowed people with high-risk melanoma to live longer, cancer-free, the pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck announced Wednesday.
For decades, cancer vaccines have been one of the most tantalizing ideas in cancer treatment — offering the hope of harnessing a person’s own immune system to attack tumors. . . .
The mRNA technology that was instrumental in the rapid vaccine development in the Covid-19 pandemic added a new element of speed and flexibility to the quest for therapeutic cancer vaccines. Scientists can use the mRNA platform to create bespoke, individualized vaccines matched to the genetics of patients’ tumors.
Which makes the flaky, MAHA opposition to mRNA technology the absolute worst part of our contemporary politics. I have talked to people who are freaked out that this technology "changes your genetic code," which is completely wrong. It avoids messing with your genetic code by injecting pre-made mRNA molecules; your cellular DNA doesn't have to be involved. Summary here.
When a movement opposes the most exciting medical breakthrough in decades, you know that it is based mainly on ignorance and fear.
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