CEL-SCI Corporation has been granted a new European patent covering its investigational phase 3 cancer immunotherapy drug Multikine (Leucocyte Interleukin). The patent, EU Patent: EP 1 773 368 B1, titled "A Method Of Pre-Sensitizing Cancer Prior To Treatment With Radiation and/or Chemotherapy And A Novel Cytokine Mixture," is not limited to any one particular type of cancer and can include multiple types of cancer.

This invention relates to a novel method for pre-sensitizing cancer cells prior to a therapeutic treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This effect is created by CEL-SCI's immunotherapy drug Multikine which, as part of its mode of action, induces cancerous cells to enter a proliferative cell cycle phase therapy, thereby potentially increasing their vulnerability to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Geert Kersten, chief executive officer of CEL-SCI, said, "This European patent should protect one of the largest applications for Multikine, namely its use in combination with radiation and chemotherapy. Our ongoing phase 3 clinical trial in head and neck cancer patients is administering Multikine therapy as part of a first-line treatment, before any other treatments and prior to surgery, followed by radiation or concurrent chemoradiotherapy."

The Multikine phase 3 study is enrolling patients with advanced primary (not yet treated) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The objective of the study is to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in the overall survival of enrolled patients who are treated with the Multikine treatment regimen plus standard of care (SOC) vs. subjects who are treated with SOC only. The study is being conducted in 24 countries and has enrolled over 850 patients so far.

Multikine is an investigational immunotherapeutic agent that is being tested in an open-label, randomized, controlled, global pivotal phase 3 clinical trial as a potential first-line treatment for advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Multikine is designed to be a different type of therapy in the fight against cancer: one that appears to have the potential to work with the body's natural immune system in the fight against tumors.

Multikine is also being tested in a phase 1 study under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Naval Medical Center, San Diego, and at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as a potential treatment for peri-anal warts in HIV/HPV co-infected men and women. Dr. Joel Palefsky, a world-renowned scientist and Key Opinion Leader (KOL) in human papilloma virus (HPV) research and the prevention of anal cancer, is the Principal Investigator at UCSF, which was added to the study in July 2015.

CEL-SCI has also entered into two additional co-development agreements for up to $3 million each with Ergomed Clinical Research Limited to further the development of Multikine for cervical dysplasia/neoplasia in women who are co-infected with HIV and HPV and for peri-anal warts in men and women who are co-infected with HIV and HPV.