Moderna surges on trial win for cancer shot; William Blair upgrades

Moderna shares surged nearly 100% after its mRNA cancer vaccine, developed with Merck, succeeded in a late-stage melanoma trial. The Phase 3 INTerpath-001 study met primary and secondary endpoints, outperforming Keytruda alone. Consequently, William Blair upgraded Moderna to 'Outperform'. CEO Stephane Bancel indicated potential regulatory approval by 2027. The news boosted rivals BioNTech and Novavax, driving the biotech sector ETF (XBI) up over 4%. Eight additional trials for intismeran are currently underway across various cancer types.