Tempus Announces Multi-Year Collaboration with Moderna and Merck

Original from: Tempus

Tempus (NASDAQ: TEM) today announced an expanded, multi-year collaboration to support the potential commercialization of intismeran autogene (V940/mRNA-4157), a novel, potential first-in-class individualized neoantigen therapy (INT) being evaluated in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma and other cancer types. Intismeran autogene is jointly developed by Moderna and Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada. The collaboration builds on joint efforts initiated last year and will support preparations for the potential commercialization of intismeran autogene.

As part of the collaboration, Tempus will manage the timely collection and transfer of tumor tissue and blood samples required for next-generation sequencing (NGS). Subject to applicable regulatory approvals, Tempus will also provide NGS services to support the intismeran autogene design and manufacturing process. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

“Bringing an individualized therapy like intismeran autogene from clinical development toward potential commercialization requires a seamless, highly reliable diagnostic network,” said Said Francis, Moderna’s Chief Business Officer and General Manager, Individualized Neoantigen Therapies. “Working with Tempus allows us to leverage their commercial footprint and advanced sequencing capabilities as we work to deliver individualized neoantigen therapies to patients at scale.”

“What makes individualized neoantigen therapies so exciting is that every treatment is designed around the biology of an individual patient’s tumor. That requires a carefully coordinated end-to-end process, from collecting a patient’s tumor sample and generating sequencing data to designing and manufacturing an individualized therapy,” said Jannie Oosthuizen, President, Global Oncology and MSD International. “Collaborations like this one with Tempus are helping build the infrastructure needed to bring this innovative approach to patients.”

“Individualized therapies represent the future of precision medicine, but delivering on their promise requires an end-to-end clinical workflow that works in the real world,” said Eric Lefkofsky, founder and CEO of Tempus. “By combining our operational scale and deep clinical integration with Merck and Moderna’s mRNA innovation, we are building the infrastructure needed to bring individualized cancer vaccines to patients.”

Source: Tempus Announces Multi-Year Collaboration with Moderna and Merck