June 3 (Reuters) - Moderna ( MRNA ) and partner Merck &

Co ( MRK ) said on Monday their cancer vaccine in combination

with blockbuster cancer therapy Keytruda improved survival and

showed durable efficacy in a mid-stage study in patients with a

deadly form of skin cancer.

Detailed data on Monday from the 157-patient trial showed

that after two and a half years, melanoma patients that had

received the cancer vaccine combination showed an overall

survival rate of 96%, compared with 90.2% with Keytruda alone.

About 75% of the patients on the vaccine combination had

recurrence-free survival, compared with 55.6% on Keytruda alone.

The latest data offered more evidence of the vaccine's

durability, after a December report that showed a 49% reduction

in the risk of recurrence or death among patients who were on

the vaccine combination versus Keytruda alone, with a median

follow-up of nearly three years.

Moderna ( MRNA ) and Merck's ( MRK ) collaboration is one of the several in

the industry that are combining powerful drugs to use the immune

system for targeting cancer with the mRNA vaccine technology,

which carries instructions for cells to make specific proteins.

Merck ( MRK ) and Moderna ( MRNA ), which have been collaborating since 2016,

are also conducting a late-stage study of their vaccine and

Keytruda combination.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini

Ganguli)