American vaccine manufacturer Moderna has seen its stock price soar by more than 90% following the announcement of successful clinical trial results for an investigational skin cancer vaccine. On Wednesday, the company revealed that its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine achieved its first positive results in a late-stage clinical trial.

This trial therapy has the potential to set a precedent in cancer treatment: the vaccine is customized based on each patient's tumor characteristics. Professor Georgina Long, the study's principal investigator and Medical Director of the Melanoma Institute Australia, stated, "These trial results represent a milestone moment in adjuvant therapy for melanoma."

During early trading in New York markets, Moderna's shares surged as much as 93% on the back of the trial data. The Massachusetts-based company is a leader in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which guides the human immune system to recognize and attack pathogens such as the coronavirus. The company aims to advance this investigational vaccine technology to treat different types and stages of cancer, calling the results a significant milestone on the road to cancer vaccine development.

This mRNA cancer vaccine is designed for patients with confirmed melanoma and is specifically tailored to each patient's own tumor. Moderna's Chief Executive Officer, Stéphane Bancel, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday, "We have begun to demonstrate the potential of a brand-new class of drugs, and have opened up a fresh approach to cancer treatment: using the coding information within a patient's individual cancer to create bespoke therapies that train the immune system to fight cancer."

During the pandemic, Moderna became a star company by rapidly developing its COVID-19 vaccine. However, as demand for the COVID vaccine weakened, the company's fortunes took a sharp downturn. Last year, it was the most shorted stock in the S&P 500. The group has pinned its hopes on the new cancer vaccine to reverse its fortunes, having collaborated with Merck on its development for years. Even after Wednesday's sharp share price surge, Moderna's current stock price remains less than one-third of its historical peak in 2021 following the COVID vaccine's launch.

Shares of its partner, American pharmaceutical company Merck, were up 8% in early trading.