This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Human Genome Project, the map of human DNA that was developed after more than fifteen years of titanic work, involving thousands of scientists from six countries and millions in investments. It is a map that is still being completed today, but it has allowed for a better understanding of the human body and has led to great advances in medicine. Many of the therapies that are now common and save lives have emerged from this map. In fact, the evolution of genetics and computer technology to read immense amounts of data with increasingly powerful AI has enabled advances in medicine that seemed unthinkable. The latest case we learned about this week: two pharmaceutical companies have announced that they have reached satisfactory results in phase 3 ofa vaccine to combat melanoma, one of the deadliest skin cancers.

The announcement by Moderna and Merck (MSD) of a therapeutic vaccine to prevent metastasis of melanoma, the most aggressive skin cancer, came as a surprise on Wednesday and sent shares of these pharmaceutical giants soaring. In a joint statement, the companies claimed to have obtained "positive results" in the phase 3 trial – the stage at which efficacy and safety are reviewed in patients before applying for marketing authorization. In the statement, they claimed to have achieved relapse-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival – to other organs or lymph nodes – in patients who had already undergone complete tumor removal. However, they did not provide any specific data on the vaccine. Nor is there, at the moment, an associated scientific publication.

At 5:20 PM this Wednesday, pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck (MSD) saw their stock prices soar by 119% and 11.10%, respectively. The increase in share price occurred after the two giants announced, in a joint press release, the achievement of "positive results" in the clinical trial of an experimental and pioneering therapy for melanoma, the most common skin cancer. Specifically, it is a vaccine (autogene intismetan) that, in combination with an immunotherapy called Keytruda (pembrolizumab), is being evaluated as an adjuvant treatment to reduce the risk of melanoma recurring or spreading after tumor removal.

The pace of vaccination continues to accelerate in the State after the problems with AstraZeneca and Janssen, which led the European Union to entrust Pfizer with the purchase of 50 million additional doses this quarter. Thus, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Monday from La Rioja that today Spain will beat the record of arrival and distribution of vaccines among regions, with the arrival of more than 2 million doses in a single day. Specifically, it is 1,763,190 from Pfizer, 103,200 from AstraZeneca and 188,400 from Moderna, while waiting for Janssen to send the second shipment promised for April. As for Catalonia, it will receive 280,000 doses from Pfizer, 30,200 from Moderna and 16,900 from AstraZeneca.

The Health Department has already administered 986,514 first doses of the vaccine against covid-19, according to the latest data released on Friday. In the last 24 hours 55,149 people have been vaccinated with the first dose and 7,843 with the second, which means that there are a total of 62,992 doses administered (17,704 less than yesterday). 442.487 people have already received the second dose of the vaccine, so 5.8% of the population already has the full guideline, 6.9% if we take into account only people over 16 years old.

Raúl Martínez, a sixth-year medical student at the University of Barcelona, received his first dose of the Moderna vaccine the day before starting his internship at a Primary Healthare Centre. "At first it didn't hurt or anything, but as the hours went by my arm started to ache a bit", recalls Martínez. The next day he went to work anyway, but on the day after he couldn't because he felt a little sick: he had a little fever, headache, general malaise and chills. "But it was nothing, I took a paracetamol and I felt fine", he says.