The Rundown is reporting that a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck has successfully cleared Phase 3 trials for melanoma. It said this marks the first late-stage win for an mRNA cancer therapy against an active standard of care. The vaccine, known as Intismeran Autogene, is custom-manufactured for individual patients by encoding up to 34 of a tumor's mutations into mRNA. The Rundown noted that the combination of the vaccine with Keytruda significantly improved recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival, meaning patients experienced longer periods without the cancer returning or spreading.
Separately, the publication reported that AI training startup Micro1 has offered $12.5 million for Spirit Airlines' corporate archive, exceeding Google's previous $10 million bid. The Rundown said a bankruptcy judge has paused Google's initial win due to privacy objections raised by flight attendants. The archive contains extensive data, including 100 million emails, 500 million Teams messages, 30 million lines of code, and financial and operational data, with 175,000 employee records dating back to 1986.
Spotify founder Daniel Ek's Neko Health is expanding its operations to the United States, with a $499 full-body scanning clinic set to open in Manhattan on Sept. 24. The Rundown stated that the Swedish startup's first U.S. location in SoHo will offer 60-minute, radiation-free scans using proprietary sensors, imaging, and blood tests to collect millions of health data points. It noted that more than 25,000 New Yorkers have already joined the waitlist.
Finally, The Rundown highlighted that Colossal Biosciences is spinning off its de-extinction technology into new companies. The latest venture, AI-biology startup Astromech, recently raised $20 million at a $3.8 billion valuation. It said Astromech trains AI on genomic and evolutionary data to predict changes in biological systems. Other spin-offs include Form Bio, a biology firm, and Breaking, a startup focused on plastic-eating microbes.