V940 Plus Pembrolizumab Cuts Melanoma Recurrence Risk by 49%

Matteo S. Carlino, MD, PhD, FRACP, a medical oncologist at Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals, a faculty member at Melanoma Institute Australia, and a clinical senior lecturer at The University of Sydney in Australia, discussed efficacy findings for intismeran autogene (V940) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with resected melanoma. The phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial (NCT05933577) recently met its primary end point of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and secondary end point of distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) at the interim analysis, though full results have not yet been made public.¹

Carlino contextualized that announcement against 5-year follow-up data from the smaller randomized phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study (NCT03897881), which he presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, evaluating the same V940 and pembrolizumab combination against pembrolizumab alone in a similar patient population.²

Transcript:

CancerNetwork: Looking at the INTerpath-001 trial, it did meet its primary end point of RFS and secondary end point of DMFS at the interim analysis. What was the magnitude of effect seen with V940 plus pembrolizumab vs pembrolizumab alone across these end points?

Carlino: It’s exciting to see the announcement that the INTerpath-001 study is a positive study. The results are not yet known publicly but will be presented later this year at the ESMO [European Society for Medical Oncology] meeting. [Regarding] the smaller randomized phase 2 study, I presented updated results at ASCO this year. That was a study with the same compound. It was a randomized trial with patients randomly [assigned] to pembrolizumab plus V940 or pembrolizumab alone, and we saw a benefit in terms of [RFS] of 49%—a relative risk reduction of 49%—and that translated to an absolute benefit at 5 years of over 20%. We’ll see in the coming months if that benefit we saw in the smaller randomized phase 2 trial is repeated or confirmed in the phase 3 study.

References

1. Merck and Moderna announce phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial of intismeran autogene plus KEYTRUDA® met endpoints of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma. News release. Merck. August 19, 2026. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/yxe3d24n

2. Carlino MS, Khattak A, Meniawy T, et al. Individualized neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene (intismeran) plus pembrolizumab (pembro) in resected melanoma: 5-year update of the KEYNOTE-942 study. J Clin Oncol. 2026;44(suppl 16):9500. doi:10.1200/JCO.2026.44.16_suppl.9500