Celebrate cancer win and continue work

The development of a personalized cancer vaccine that could prevent the spread or recurrence of melanoma marks the latest step in exciting and potentially game-changing developments in cancer research and treatment.

The fact that Long Island is playing a small role on that road to discovery is an economic, scientific and medical win for the region and its residents.

The new vaccine utilizes mRNA to target individual patients’ specific tumor mutations, a method that has long been discussed and dreamed about but saw no real-world impacts until now.

The melanoma vaccine is just one of many new ways to personalize the treatment of a variety of cancers and tumor types. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer, or bladder, kidney, stomach, colon or pancreatic cancer, are undergoing clinical trials for similar vaccines. Results in many of those efforts are not a long way off. Revolutionary changes in the care and treatment of these cancers are within the grasp of physicians.

Importantly, the Merck and Moderna Phase 3 clinical trial that produced initial promising results involved two patients at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola. It may seem like a tiny piece of the grand puzzle but it showcases just how critical Long Island can be to the world of scientific discovery and medical breakthroughs.

For decades, Long Island has tried to build a research corridor while expanding its healthcare sector to meet the needs of its aging population. Both are meaningful pillars of the Long Island economy and job market. The region’s scientists also do their own innovative work that could result in future medical advances.

At this key moment, researchers and physicians need support and resources to continue their work. Pieces are falling into place across the region, with longstanding institutions like Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, more recent additions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Uniondale location and future possibilities such as the proposed new NYU Langone complex in Melville. But federal, state and local officials must establish public policies and funding to allow such progress to continue.

And it’s up to federal public health officials to make sure that safe, effective treatments receive necessary approvals as quickly as possible. At a time when the nation’s public health leaders have shown they do not always support science, on this pivotal issue, there’s no room for disinformation or roadblocks from them — or anyone else.

There’s a lot more to do. Even this latest news doesn’t yet come with fully finished, published results, and it’s too early to know whether the vaccine allows patients to survive longer. More trials and testing on other medications and vaccines lie ahead.

But for cancer patients and those within Long Island’s research and healthcare systems, the Merck and Moderna announcement provides something that at times has been missing in the deep and often difficult battle against cancer: Hope.