• CEL-4000 may deliver safe and effective therapy for RA by rebalancing the inflammatory response, without weakening important immune defense mechanisms, risking infections or cancer, as current treatments may

VIENNA, Va. / Mar 19, 2024 / Business Wire / CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE American: CVM) today announced the peer reviewed scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology published an article regarding CEL-SCI’s Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System (LEAPS) technology in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) titled: “Current status of immunological therapies for rheumatoid arthritis with a focus on antigen-specific therapeutic vaccines”. CEL-SCI’s LEAPS team, along with outside collaborators from U.S. and Europe, reviewed published/presented results from pre-clinical animal model of antigen-specific LEAPS therapeutic vaccines, such as CEL-4000 and CEL-5000, made specific for the treatment of RA, and compared these findings with published results of other RA-therapies that either suppress or alter the immune response in order to treat RA.

In the article, the authors note that the currently available therapeutic arsenal for the treatment of RA consists mainly of immunosuppressive or ablative drugs, which may carry the potential risk of facilitating recurrent or primary infectious diseases or cancer.

They also underscore that a therapeutic vaccine that can rebalance the inflammatory disease process, promoting antigen-specific disease-directed T cell immune responses, is highly desirable. CEL-4000, an antigen specific immunomodulating vaccine, is provided as a new treatment paradigm that should deliver therapy for RA without weakening important immune defense mechanisms against microbial infections or cancer.

The authors also emphasized that the most appropriate way to advance the LEAPS vaccines to the clinic would be an adaptive study design for clinical trials, enrollment of patients with early-stage RA, and using the Bayesian optimal design model, currently used in oncology studies, as well as the use of disease-related biomarkers to ascertain responsiveness to treatment and introduce additional tools to assess outcome at the disease level.

“At CEL-SCI, we focus on utilizing a healthy immune system to overcome disease safely and with minimal side effects. Our LEAPS platform, and CEL-4000 specifically approaches the treatment of auto immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis in a completely different way. By rebalancing the immune system to its original healthy state, CEL-4000 could protect patients from the risk of cancer and infection,” stated CEL-SCI CEO, Geert Kersten. “The growing body of preclinical data on LEAPS supports the advancement of this asset into human studies.”

About CEL-SCI Corporation

CEL-SCI believes that boosting a patient’s immune system while it is still intact should provide the greatest possible impact on survival. Multikine* (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) is designed to help the immune system "target" the tumor at a time when the immune system is still relatively intact and thereby thought to be better able to mount an attack on the tumor. In a Phase 3 study, CEL-SCI studied patients who were newly diagnosed with locally advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (oral cavity and soft-palate) with the investigational product Multikine administered first, before they received the standard of care, which involved surgery followed by either radiation or chemoradiation. The Phase 3 study enrolled 928 patients. Our approach is unique because most other cancer immunotherapies are administered only after conventional therapies have been tried and/or failed.

After analyzing data from the Phase 3 study, we have better defined the target head and neck cancer population for Multikine, which is advanced primary head and neck cancer patients with no lymph node involvement and with low PD-L1 tumor expression. In the Phase 3 study, we observed statistically significant survival data in the final target population, showing that Multikine cut the risk of death in half at five years vs control. We plan to submit the proposed study protocol to the FDA in Q1 2024, with the goal to get FDA buy-in for a confirmatory clinical trial, and also to discuss potential accelerated approval pathways.

Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) received Orphan Drug designation from the FDA for neoadjuvant therapy in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (cancer) of the head and neck.

The Company has operations in Vienna, Virginia, and near/in Baltimore, Maryland.

Forward-Looking Statements

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* Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) is the trademark that CEL-SCI has registered for this investigational therapy. This proprietary name is subject to FDA review in connection with the Company's future anticipated regulatory submission for approval. Multikine has not been licensed or approved for sale, barter or exchange by the FDA or any other regulatory agency. Similarly, its safety or efficacy has not been established for any use.