Moderna Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology company, and Merck (NYSE:MRK), an American pharmaceutical company, have announced an expansion of their 2016 collaboration to develop and commercialise novel personalised messenger RNA (mRNA) cancer vaccines to now include shared antigen mRNA cancer vaccines including mRNA-5671, Moderna's mRNA KRAS cancer vaccine, it was reported on Friday.

Moderna developed mRNA-5671 starting in 2017. The two companies will now advance jointly mRNA-5671 in human studies, and plan to conduct combination studies with additional immuno-oncology therapies. Under the expanded agreement, Merck will be responsible for clinical development of mRNA-5671 and associated costs while Moderna will be responsible for clinical supply and associated costs. Following the completion of human proof-of-concept (hPOC) studies, Merck may opt-in on further development and commercialization of mRNA-5671 upon payment of an undisclosed fee to Moderna. Following opt-in, the parties will share equally the global net profits and costs associated with mRNA-5671. As part of this agreement, the parties may also initiate and collaborate on other shared antigen mRNA cancer vaccines programs. In addition, Merck will make a USD125 million investment in Moderna in newly priced series H preferred equity. Moderna closed a series G round earlier this year.

'Augmentation of immune responses offers great promise in cancer therapy, as our work with the PD-1-specific antibody KEYTRUDA has shown,' said Dr. Roger M Perlmutter, president, Merck Research Laboratories. 'We now look forward to expanding our exploration of mRNA cancer vaccines, working in concert with our colleagues at Moderna.'