14 September 2018 - - US-based drug and vaccine developer CEL-SCI Corp. (NYSE American: CVM)  has received USD 5,435,367 through the exercise of warrants to purchase shares of the company's common stock during August through September 13, 2018, the company said.

As of September 13, 2018, CEL-SCI had 27,351,324 outstanding shares of common stock.

"We are pleased that warrant holders see the value of CEL-SCI's common stock and have chosen to exercise their warrants. CEL-SCI, now better capitalized with USD12 m raised in the first half of the year and the recent USD5.4 m from the warrant exercises, moves forward towards the anticipated data readout on our pivotal, global Phase 3 study in head and neck cancer," said CEL-SCI's chief executive officer Geert Kersten.

In its 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.

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 3 weeks prior to the Standard of Care which involves surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation.

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

The aim of treatment with Multikine is to boost the body's immune system 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.