CEL-SCI Announces Expansion of Exclusive Licensing Agreement for Cancer Drug Multikine
03 11월 2008 - 11:45PM
PR Newswire (US)
Partner to Make Direct Investment in CEL-SCI VIENNA, Va., Nov. 3
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE: CVM) announced
today that it has expanded its exclusive licensing agreement for
Multikine(R) with Orient Europharma Co., Ltd. ("Orient
Europharma"), a leading pharmaceutical company from Taiwan. The new
agreement extends the Multikine collaboration to also cover South
Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. The licensing
agreement initially focuses on the areas of head and neck cancer,
nasopharyngeal cancer and potentially cervical cancer. As part of
this new agreement, Orient Europharma will invest $500,000 in
CEL-SCI and fund a portion of the Company's global Phase III
clinical trial for Multikine due to start in 2009. Orient
Europharma's clinical group will conduct part of the clinical study
in its territory. In addition to making a direct investment in the
Company and funding a portion of the clinical trials, Orient
Europharma will also be responsible for registering the product in
the Territory. Once Multikine has been approved, CEL-SCI will be
responsible for manufacturing the product, while Orient Europharma
will be responsible for sales in the Territory. Revenues will be
split between CEL-SCI and Orient Europharma. "We are pleased that
Orient Europharma has recognized the potential for Multikine and
has extended its license into more countries," said Geert Kersten,
Chief Executive Officer of CEL-SCI. "We expect enrollment in Taiwan
to be very speedy, particularly with Orient Europharma running that
part of the Phase III study. Orient Europharma proved that it is
capable of running part of an international Phase III cancer trial
when it successfully executed its part in the Phase III clinical
trial that led to the approval of Navelbine(R)." CEL-SCI has also
licensed certain rights related to Multikine to Teva
Pharmaceuticals in Israel and Turkey. CEL-SCI is developing
Multikine for approval as a first line indication in head and neck
cancer. To that end, the Company's upcoming Phase III clinical
trial is an 800 patient clinical study designed to demonstrate that
administration of its cancer drug Multikine to head and neck cancer
patients before they receive any conventional cancer treatment will
increase their survival. Head and neck cancer is one of the world's
biggest cancers affecting about 600,000 people per annum worldwide.
About CEL-SCI's Phase III Cancer Drug Multikine: In Phase II
clinical trials Multikine was shown to be safe and well-tolerated,
and to improve the patients' overall survival by 33% at a median of
three and a half years following surgery. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) gave the go-ahead for a Phase III clinical
trial with Multikine and granted orphan drug status to Multikine in
the neoadjuvant therapy of squamous cell carcinoma (cancer) of the
head and neck. Multikine is also the first immunotherapeutic agent
being developed as a first-line standard of care treatment for
cancer. It is administered prior to any other cancer therapy
because that is the period when the anti-tumor immune response can
still be fully activated. Once the patient has advanced disease, or
had surgery or has received radiation and/or chemotherapy, the
immune system is severely weakened and is less able to mount an
effective anti-tumor immune response. Other immunotherapies are
administered after the patient has received chemotherapy and/or
radiation therapy, which can limit their effectiveness. CEL-SCI has
operations in Vienna, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland. CEL-SCI's
other products, which are currently in pre-clinical stage, have
shown protection against a number of diseases in animal tests and
are being tested against diseases associated with bio-defense. Most
recently CEL-SCI announced that its newly discovered rheumatoid
arthritis vaccine showed excellent results in animal tests.
DATASOURCE: CEL-SCI Corporation CONTACT: Gavin de Windt of CEL-SCI
Corporation, +1-703-506-9460 Web Site: http://www.cel-sci.com/
Copyright