A Phase 1/2 interventional study of mRNA-4359 and Pembrolizumab in Advanced Solid Tumors, sponsored by ModernaTX, Inc.. Recruiting at 39 sites in 7 countries. Open to participants aged 12 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-14.
Sponsored by ModernaTX, Inc. (part of Moderna, Inc.) · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment
The primary goal of this study is to assess the safety and tolerability of mRNA-4359 administered alone and in combination with pembrolizumab or ipilimumab and nivolumab.
4,040 studies on the registry are indexed under Neoplasm Metastasis; 886 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 361 is above the median of 50 across 3,268 interventional studies indexed under Neoplasm Metastasis.
Browse Neoplasm Metastasis studies →ModernaTX, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 119 studies on the registry; 18 are open to participants now.
Of its 64 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 35 (55%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Key Inclusion Criteria:
Dose Confirmation (Arm 1b): Participant has histologically confirmed locally advanced or metastatic, and CPI refractory melanoma or locally advanced or metastatic, and CPI refractory NSCLC with measurable disease as determined by RECIST v1.1 who has disease progression after, at least 1 line of standard therapy (no limit to ), and has been treated with or refused standard of care treatment. Participants in PD arm Group 2 must also have TPS ≥1%. Participants must have primary refractory or acquired secondary resistance to prior immune checkpoint treatments. Primary refractory is defined as prior exposure to anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 antibody for at least 6 weeks but no more than 6 months with demonstration of progression on 2 separate scans at least 4 weeks apart but no more than 12 weeks apart and progression occurring within 6 months after first dose of anti-PD-1 antibody. Acquired secondary resistance must have confirmed objective response or prolonged stable disease (SD) (>6 months), followed by disease progression in the setting of ongoing treatment and confirmed progression on scans at least 4 weeks apart. Participants must have a tumor lesion amenable to biopsy and must have another lesion that can be followed for response.
Dose Expansion Arms (Arm 2): Participant has histologically confirmed:
Key Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.
The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.
The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.
“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.
PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.
The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.
“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Histologically or cytologically confirmed
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Measurable disease
The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.
The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
RECIST
The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.
“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Relapsed and refractory
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Biopsy and archival tissue
A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.
Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Line of therapy
A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.
“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
PD-1, PD-L1 and checkpoint inhibitors
PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.
PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECOG performance status
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Investigational drug or device
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Live vaccines
Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
CTCAE grade
The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.
“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Adult participants with locally advanced or metastatic cancer will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose as monotherapy.
Biological: mRNA-4359
Participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) refractory melanoma or locally advanced or metastatic, and CPI refractory non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Participants 18 years or older with CPI refractory, advanced/metastatic melanoma with a programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) of ≥1% who have had progression on at least 1 prior CPI-based systemic therapy in the advanced/metastatic disease setting will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Adult participants with locally advanced or metastatic melanoma who have not yet received any prior systemic therapy for their melanoma in this setting will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Adult participants with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with a PD-L1 TPS of ≥50%, with no known epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)- or anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive tumor mutations who have not yet received any prior systemic therapy for their NSCLC will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Ipilimumab · Biological: Nivolumab
Adult participants with locally advanced or metastatic melanoma who have not yet received any prior systemic therapy in this setting will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with ipilimumab and nivolumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Participants 12 years or older with CPI refractory, advanced/metastatic melanoma with a PD-L1 TPS of ≥1% who have had progression on at least 1 prior CPI-based systemic therapy in the advanced/metastatic disease setting will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and CPI refractory melanoma will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Participants with locally advanced or metastatic, and CPI refractory NSCLC with a PD-L1 TPS ≥1% will be administered mRNA-4359 at an applicable dose in combination with pembrolizumab.
Biological: mRNA-4359 · Biological: Pembrolizumab
Intramuscular Injection
Intravenous infusion
Intravenous infusion
Intravenous infusion
Arms 1a and 1b: Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) or Recommended Dose for Expansion (RDE) of mRNA-4359
Time frame: Days 1-21 (Cycle 1)
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Number of Participants with Dose Limiting Toxicities (DLTs)
Time frame: Days 1-21 (Cycle 1)
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Number of Participants with Adverse Events (AEs), AE of Special Interest (AESIs), and Serious AEs (SAEs)
Time frame: Up to 27 months
Arm 2d: Objective Response Rate (ORR) Based on Blinded Independent Central Review (BICR) Per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors Version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1)
Time frame: Day 1 up to 60 months
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: ORR Based on Investigator Assessment Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 27 months
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Disease Control Rate (DCR) Based on Investigator Assessment Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 27 months
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Duration of Response (DOR) Based on Investigator Assessment Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 27 months
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Progression Free Survival (PFS) Based on Investigator Assessment Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 27 months
Arms 1, 2a, 2b, and 2c: Percent Change from Baseline in T Cell Profile in the Tumor
Changes in CD3+CD8+, CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD4+Foxp3+ cells will be measured by immunohistochemistry in tumor.
Time frame: Baseline up to 27 months
Arm 2d: DOR Based on BICR Per RECIST v1.1 1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 60 months
Arm 2d: DCR Based on BICR Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 60 months
Arm 2d: PFS Based on BICR Per RECIST v1.1
Time frame: Day 1 up to 60 months
Arm 2d: Overall Survival Based on Investigator Assessment
Time frame: Day 1 up 60 months
Arm 2d: Number of Participants with AEs, AESIs, and SAEs
Time frame: Up to 60 months
Arm 2d: Change From Baseline in Health-related Quality of Life as Measured by Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Melanoma (FACT-M)
Time frame: Baseline up to 60 months
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Started Sep 2022 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Feb 2032, 113 months after the start.
Of 127 industry-sponsored phase 1/2 interventional studies under Neoplasm Metastasis, half reached primary completion within 56 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 41 and three quarters within 89. This study's planned 113 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 213 studies reached it within 62 months; a quarter within 41 and three quarters within 89.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
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