3 April 2019 - - The Independent Data Monitoring Committee for US-based CEL-SCI Corp.'s (NYSE American: CVM) pivotal Phase 3 head and neck cancer study of its investigational immunotherapy Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) has completed its recent review of the Phase 3 study data, the company said.

The data from all 928 enrolled patients were provided to the IDMC by the clinical research organization responsible for data management of this Phase 3 study.

The IDMC recommended to continue the trial until the appropriate number of events have occurred.

IDMCs are committees commonly used by sponsors of clinical trials to protect the interests of the patients and the integrity of the study data in ongoing trials, especially when the trials involve patients with life threatening diseases, and when, as in cancer clinical trials, they extend over long periods of time.

CEL-SCI believes that boosting a patient's immune system while it is still intact should provide the greatest possible impact on survival.

Therefore, in the Phase 3 study CEL-SCI treats patients who are newly diagnosed with advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with Multikine first, BEFORE they receive surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy.

This approach is unique. Most other cancer immunotherapies are administered only after conventional therapies have been tried and/or failed.

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

CEL-SCI's Phase 3 study is the largest Phase 3 study in the world for the treatment of head and neck cancer.

Per the study's protocol, newly diagnosed patients with advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma are treated with the Multikine treatment regimen for three weeks prior to receiving the Standard of Care, which involves surgery, radiation and/or concurrent radiochemotherapy.

Multikine is designed to help the immune system "see" the tumor at a time when the immune system is still relatively intact and thereby it is better able to mount an attack on the tumor.

The aim of treatment with Multikine is to increase the body's immune system against the tumor prior to SOC.

The company's LEAPS technology is currently being developed as a therapeutic vaccine for rheumatoid arthritis and is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. The company has operations in Vienna, Virginia, and in/near Baltimore, Maryland.