VIENNA, Va., June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The following letter is
being released by CEL-SCI CORPORATION (Amex: CVM) to its shareholders from
Geert Kersten, Chief Executive Officer:
The stock market is worried about inflation and biotech stocks are
being knocked down. Does that make sense? Are patients less interested in
saving their lives because the price of a gallon of gas is now over $3?
With inflation fears reducing the attractiveness of many stocks, biotech
stocks should get the attention of investors as an alternate place to
invest. Certainly the pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of the
lack of investor interest in biotech stocks. During the past months they
have acquired many biotechnology companies to the tune of billions of
dollars, e.g., AstraZeneca's purchase of Cambridge Antibody Technology for
$1.3 billion. Our own company's stock, CEL-SCI Corporation (Amex: CVM), has
been pulled down with the general market even though we recently presented
excellent long-term survival data with our cancer drug Multikine(R). Seeing
such a disconnect between real data and market valuation, I have just
bought another 87,600 shares of CEL-SCI in the open market. The value
proposition was simply too good to pass up.
During the past 12 months CEL-SCI has achieved great milestones. We
received the Canadian go-ahead for a Phase III clinical trial with our
cancer drug Multikine, we received a key patent on Multikine giving us
another 18 years of market exclusivity, and we had Multikine's mechanism of
action published in a leading cancer journal. Most recently we were able to
announce a 33-40% improvement in patient survival after long-term follow-up
(3 1/2 years) in our key Phase II study with Multikine.
In my opinion, we have set this Company up to enter its Phase III
cancer trial with a great deal of risk mitigation and an enormous upside.
We have validated the manufacturing process, we have conducted many Phase
II studies to determine the right dose to administer, we have waited for
long-term Phase II data showing a very significant increase in survival,
and the Phase II treatment regimen showing the increase in survival is the
same as the one we will be using in our Phase III trial. Clearly the market
we are pursuing is very large, constituting 5-6% of all cancer patients.
Since we still have all of the major markets available for partnering, we
are seeing interest in Multikine from pharmaceutical companies.
I often find it helpful to summarize complicated issues in a more
simplistic manner. Therefore I have compiled a list of the key reasons as
to why I would use Multikine if I were a cancer patient:
1) It is non-toxic and treatment takes only 3 weeks.
2) 12% of the patients in the key Phase II study had no remaining tumor
after Multikine treatment.
3) After treatment with Multikine the average tumor reduction in this
study was about 50%, before the standard treatments even started. I
like the idea of the enemy's army being 50% reduced before the fight
even begins.
4) Our publication in the Laryngoscope has shown that pre-treatment with
Multikine should significantly enhance the effectiveness of follow-on
radiation and chemotherapy.
5) We showed a substantial increase in survival in our key Phase II
study.
6) Multikine pretreatment does not preclude any other therapy.
My feeling is that I would have a lot to gain and nothing to lose by
taking Multikine. I believe that many others will feel the same and, it is
for this reason that I believe that Multikine will some day be added to
many of the current cancer therapies.
When used in this report, the words "intends," "believes,"
"anticipated" and "expects" and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks
and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected. Factors that could cause or contribute to such
differences include, an inability to duplicate the clinical results
demonstrated in clinical studies, timely development of any potential
products that can be shown to be safe and effective, receiving necessary
regulatory approvals, difficulties in manufacturing any of the Company's
potential products, inability to raise the necessary capital and the risk
factors set forth from time to time in CEL-SCI Corporation's SEC filings,
including but not limited to its report on Form 10- K for the year ended
September 30, 2005. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly
release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements
which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date
hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SOURCE CEL-SCI Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.cel-sci.com
CONTACT:
COMPANY: Gavin de Windt of CEL-SCI
Corporation, +1-703-506-9460; or INVESTOR RELATIONS: Mike Lucci
of Lucci Financial Group, LLC, +1-248-723-3330, for CEL-SCI
Corporation
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