EVEREST MED (01952) opened nearly 15% higher on Tuesday, with shares climbing 14.96% to HK$27.36 at the time of writing, recording a turnover of HK$12.26 million.

The surge comes after Moderna and Merck announced preliminary positive results from the first Phase III clinical trial of their mRNA personalized cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene, on August 19. The vaccine, combined with Keytruda, was evaluated as an adjuvant treatment for over 1,100 patients with high-risk melanoma following complete surgical resection, meeting key endpoints for recurrence-free survival and reduction of distant metastasis risk. Moderna's shares skyrocketed nearly 177% overnight on the news.

The successful Phase III trial for melanoma is viewed by the market as a pivotal validation of the technical feasibility of mRNA personalized cancer vaccines, potentially triggering a significant revaluation of the sector. Notably, EVEREST MED has established an industry-leading, fully integrated and localized AI+mRNA platform, through which it is advancing multiple mRNA tumor therapeutic vaccines and an autologous CAR-T platform for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. Its personalized tumor therapeutic vaccine, EVM16, has completed first-in-human clinical data readout, with plans to initiate an IIT Phase Ib clinical study in the fourth quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the universal off-the-shelf tumor therapeutic vaccine EVM14 has completed dual regulatory submissions in China and the US.