DocKB
11 horas hace
CVM: Fiscal Year 2024 Results
02/10/2025
By John Vandermosten, CFA
NYSE:CVM
READ THE FULL CVM RESEARCH REPORT
CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE:CVM) reports fiscal year 2024 financial and operational results. The press release and Form 10-K filing encapsulate a year of preparation for confirmatory registration studies around the globe. CEL-SCI cleared its proposed 212-patient registration study of Multikine with the FDA. This narrowed the population to patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) with no lymph node involvement and low PD-L1 tumor expression. A contract research organization (CRO) was selected to run the trial and data was presented from the IT-MATTERS study showing 73% survival for Multikine vs. 45% in the control arm at five years. Outside of the US, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Pediatric Committee and the United Kingdom’s Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted Multikine a pediatric waiver, streamlining the process for obtaining approval in these jurisdictions.
Financial Review
CEL-SCI recognized no revenues for its fiscal year ending September 30, 2024. It consumed $26.4 million in operational expenses generating a net loss of ($27.6) million or ($0.51) per share.
For the year ending September 30, 2024 versus the same prior year period:
Expenses for research and development fell 19% to $18.2 million from $22.5 million. Lower Phase III study, employee stock compensation and miscellaneous costs contributed to the decrease and were partially offset by increases in other research and development costs;
General and administrative expenses decreased 9% to $8.2 million from $9.0 million on lower employee stock compensation and other miscellaneous expenses;
Other non-operating items were $177,000 compared to ($43,000) in the prior year;
Net interest expense was relatively constant at ($0.7) million related to interest income from cash balances and expense from finance leases;
Derivative modifications totaled ($659,000) compared to ($172,000);
Net loss totaled ($27.6) million versus ($32.4) million or ($0.51) and ($0.73) per share, respectively.
As of September 30, 2024, cash and equivalents totaled $4.7 million. Cash burn for the twelve-month period amounted to approximately ($18.9) million, up from 2023’s ($23.2) million. Following the end of the fiscal year, CEL-SCI closed on a gross $5 million stock offering. CEL-SCI holds no debt on its balance sheet. The company estimates that the confirmatory trial will cost $30 million.
FDA Confirmatory Study Acceptance
Last May, CEL-SCI announced that its selection criteria for populating a confirmatory study and study design was cleared by the FDA. In a subsequent meeting, the agency indicated that the company may move forward with a confirmatory registration study of Multikine to evaluate its safety and efficacy in squamous cell head and neck cancer (SCCHN). Acceptable patients will be newly diagnosed with advanced primary SCCHN with no lymph node involvement (determined via PET scan) and with low PD-L1 tumor expression (determined via biopsy). Statistical analysis indicates that 212 subjects will be required to generate the confirmatory data. In November 2024, the FDA and CEL-SCI agreed upon the use of the PD-L1 biomarker to select patients for the trial.
Based on a discussion of the path forward with the FDA which was included in a 29 page report, the agency responded in written notes accepting the eligibility criteria. It further acknowledged that the nonclinical data appears to be sufficient, the stratification factors appear reasonable and CEL-SCI’s approach for product specifications is acceptable. Furthermore, the FDA had no safety objections to further treatment of patients with Multikine.
Similar to the IT-MATTERS study, we anticipate that eligible individuals will have a diagnosis of untreated SCCHN, measurable tumor, normal immune function and no use of immunosuppressives in the previous year among other criteria. Based on the performance in the Phase III trial, further population characteristics for the confirmatory study will include patients with no lymph node involvement of the disease and low PD-L1 tumor expression.
The study design calls for a two arm, two stage, 1:1 randomized controlled trial enrolling 212 subjects. The first stage will examine pre-surgical response rates, which can be determined shortly after completion of enrollment. Stage two will assess overall survival (OS) as the primary endpoint. Histopathology biomarkers will also be measured.
In its confirmatory trial, CEL-SCI anticipates that it will need to surpass a hurdle of a 10% improvement in overall survival (OS) and produce a hazard ratio of 0.72 or less to merit approval. In the IT-MATTERS study, the target population achieved a 28.5% improvement in OS and produced a hazard ratio of 0.35.
In a December 12th press release, CEL-SCI explained the biologic rationale for the use of Multikine in the confirmatory registrational head and neck cancer study. The discussion referred to the results from the IT-MATTERS study and emphasized the significant rates of tumor regression before surgery in both the Phase II and Phase III studies and the 73% survival with Multikine vs. a 45% for the control patients not treated with Multikine. Other supporting points include:
Benefit to the patient prior to surgery and when the immune system remains strong;
Statistical significance of p=0.0015 and hazard ratio of 0.35 in 114 patients for overall survival (OS);
Eligible patients have no lymph node involvement and low PD-L1 tumor expression;
No excess toxicity beyond the standard of care.
Links to Previous Reports and Background on Multikine
Summary of ESMO Poster Presentation – discussion of lymph node spread and PD-L1 expression
Review of IT-MATTERS population analysis & overall survival comparison
FDA ODAC Opinion
CEL-SCI Milestones
Giovanni Selvaggi joins CEL-SCI as clinical advisor – June 2024
Presentation at the International Drug Discovery Science & Technology (IDDST) Congress – June 2024
CEL-SCI appoints Robert Watson as Chairperson of the Board – July 2024
Feedback from various regulatory agencies - 2024
Submission of license application to various agencies – 2024+
Grant of pediatric waiver by UK’s MHRA – September 2024
ESMO poster presentation provides new data – September 2024
UK’s MHRA grants pediatric waiver to Multikine – September 2024
Ergomed selected as CRO for confirmatory trial – October 2024
FDA ODAC opines against use of checkpoints in low PD-L1 expression patients – Fall 2024
FDA agrees to use of PD-L1 biomarker in Multikine registration study – November 2024
Full enrollment of confirmatory trial – 2Q:26
Clinical Research Organization (CRO) Selection
CEL-SCI selected Ergomed to serve as its CRO for the upcoming confirmatory registration study of Multikine. Details of the selection were included in an October 1st press release. Ergomed had previously provided CRO services to CEL-SCI for the management of the IT-MATTERS trial. Ergomed will manage the trial globally at multiple sites. The announcement reminded readers that the trial will be a 212-patient study enrolling newly-diagnosed, locally advanced, primary head and neck cancer. It will focus on patients with no lymph node involvement and low PD-L1 tumor expression. The anticipated start of the confirmatory trial is 1Q:25.
Capital Raise
CEL-SCI announced the closing of its $5 million offering on December 31st in a press release. The company sold 16,130,000 shares of stock and pre-funded warrants at $0.31 per share. ThinkEquity served as the placement agent for the transaction.
Summary
CEL-SCI is completing the necessary prerequisites for launching its registrational trial in the United States. The trial design has been completed with plans to enroll 212 subjects that conform to specific biomarkers. The trial will include low-risk patients that are appropriate for radiotherapy but not chemotherapy and with low PD-L1 expression. CEL-SCI has also selected its CRO, Ergomed, which also provided these services for the IT-MATTERS trial. Other positive news for immunotherapies are the opinions shared at the November ODAC meeting. At that meeting, a majority of experts asserted that on the whole checkpoint inhibitors could be harmful for patients with low PD-L1 expression, providing support for alternatives such as Multikine if it is approved.
rbl100
2 semanas hace
I will check into that as you said. Maybe one day I will be able to restore my father's car to its former glory a 1964 Buick since I never saw my father much. He was around maybe 20 months in my whole life. Was hoping I would win the lottery by now, but it hasn't happened in the 24 years since he died. My mother is dead too and I am an only child. The only survivor left of my family and family name.
Have to honor my mother though, she raised me all by herself without any help from anyone. That is where the credit goes. I stayed honest and never did drugs. She had no help from my father who became destitute after losing all their money by opening a lounge in 1967 at a cost of $50,000 cash in those days. Put all the money into someone else's building - yes DUMB! Then after losing it all within 6 months and having a nervous breakdown, he stayed in it to try and recoup the $$$. Then he ended up owing $250,000 to the mafia and spent the rest of his life paying them off. So my mother had no support whatsoever and worked 6 days a week basically to raise me and keep us off welfare and out of homelessness. Yep, big money back then. He was a good father but made a truly stupid business decision. Well one day I will be rewarded, just maybe not on this side of eternity.
fung_derf
2 meses hace
No offense, but your sentiment is one that has been shared here since I made my first post on this board.
Considering the lack of volume, and the fact this stock has done nothing but sink for years, I would say, this is DEFINITELY NOT the time to be buying this stock. Should this trend change, there will be more than enough time to buy in.
The only value now, is to anyone looking to pump then dump the stock. On your own personal level, I am curious.....would you feel at all bad making money on this stock if it was totally due to getting in early on a pump and dump scheme? Knowing full well you'd be sticking your shares to someone else presumably on this very website?
imanjen13
2 meses hace
The lack of success here can be attributable to the failure to date of Multikline as a cancer cure or mitigator of head and neck cancer not the CEO. That being said, this can still be a huge winner, especially given the cheap entry point now, should the ongoing tests, with preliminary results expected in the current quarter, prove successful. If you are lucky, this can be your personal ATM.
DocKB
2 meses hace
Zach's Small Cap Research logo
CVM: CRO Selected for Registrational Trial
12/09/2024
By John Vandermosten, CFA
NYSE:CVM
READ THE FULL CVM RESEARCH REPORT
CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE:CVM) has made progress advancing the prerequisites for the upcoming registrational trial, selecting the contract research organization (CRO) that will run it and coming to an agreement with the FDA on which biomarkers are appropriate for selecting patients. The view of oncologists as expressed by the FDA’s ODAC is that using checkpoint inhibitors to treat low PD-L1 expressing patients provides limited efficacy and could even be harmful. This view opens the door for the use of Multikine, if approved, in the low expressing PD-L1 patient population based on its efficacy in this group.
CEL-SCI Milestones
Giovanni Selvaggi joins CEL-SCI as clinical advisor – June 2024
Presentation at the International Drug Discovery Science & Technology (IDDST) Congress – June 2024
CEL-SCI appoints Robert Watson as Chairperson of the Board – July 2024
Feedback from various regulatory agencies - 2024
Submission of license application to various agencies – 2024+
Grant of pediatric waiver by UK’s MHRA – September 2024
ESMO poster presentation provides new data – September 2024
UK’s MHRA grants pediatric waiver to Multikine – September 2024
Ergomed selected as CRO for confirmatory trial – October 2024
FDA ODAC opines against use of checkpoints in low PD-L1 expression patients – October 2024
FDA agrees to use of PD-L1 biomarker in Multikine registration study – November 2024
ESMO Poster Presentation
On September 16th, 2024, Dr. József Tímár, presented a poster entitled “Prognostic significance of diagnostic staging in treatment naïve, resectable locally advanced primary oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma for neoadjuvant Leukocyte Interleukin Injection immunotherapy.” He presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2024 Congress which was held in Barcelona, Spain. The poster presented graphical data comparing high risk and low risk subjects who were evaluated in the IT-MATTERS trial measuring the probability of overall survival (OS) over time. The subpopulation included in the data set consisted of 114 subjects who met the target population selection criteria. The high-risk group included patients that presented a high risk of cancer recurrence and who were recommended to undergo chemotherapy following surgery (N=35). The low risk group included patients that were recommended to be given radiotherapy but not chemotherapy after surgery (N=79). Both groups showed a survival benefit for the Multikine arm.
The 79 patients who were recommended to receive only radiotherapy benefited to an even greater degree from pre-surgery treatment with Multikine compared to the wider 114 patient group. This target low risk population (n=38) had a 5-year overall survival of 82.6% when treated with Multikine vs. 47.3% when treated with standard of care alone (n=41), without overlap in their respective 95% confidence intervals. More recent analysis for the target low risk population (n=79) produced a hazard ratio of 0.27 (95% CI [0.12, 0.64], Wald p=0.0027) achieving a 73% reduction in overall risk of death.
While the overall survival benefit was clear and statistically significant (log rank p=0.0015) for the entire target population (n=114), the 79 patients who were recommended to receive only radiotherapy benefited to an even greater degree from pre-surgery treatment with Multikine than the group of 114 as a whole. This target low risk population (n=38) had a 5-year overall survival of 82.6% when treated with Multikine vs. 47.3% when treated with standard of care alone (n=41), without overlap in their respective 95% confidence intervals. More recent analysis for the target low risk population (n=79) showed a hazard ratio of 0.27 (95% CI [0.12, 0.64], Wald p=0.0027) achieving a 73% reduction in overall risk of death.
Looking ahead, CEL-SCI management postulated that the use of advanced imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) may help further improve patient selection and generate a higher success rate for Multikine. PET scans will be used in the upcoming confirmatory registration study for FDA approval.
Clinical Research Organization (CRO) Selection
CEL-SCI selects Ergomed to serve as its CRO for the upcoming confirmatory registration study of Multikine. Details of the selection were included in an October 1st press release. Ergomed had previously provided CRO services to CEL-SCI for the management of the IT-MATTERS trial. Ergomed will manage the trial globally at multiple sites. The announcement reminded readers that the trial will be a 212-patient study enrolling newly-diagnosed, locally advanced, primary head and neck cancer. It will focus on patients with no lymph node involvement and low PD-L1 tumor expression. The anticipated start of the confirmatory trial is 1Q:25.
FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) Opinion
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) convened in September to evaluate the use of checkpoint inhibitors in different cancers and when certain therapies are appropriate depending on biomarker readings. The ODAC is a panel of expert advisors that provides recommendations to the FDA regarding cancer drugs and treat-ments. The committee consists of medical experts, oncologists, researchers, and other healthcare professionals specializing in cancer treatment whose primary role is to review and evaluate new cancer drugs, therapies, and treatments before they are approved for market use.
The ODAC provided an opinion on adequacy of PD-L1 expression as a predictive biomarker for patient selection in this patient population, risk-benefit assessments in different subpopulations defined by PD-L1 expression and ade-quacy of the cumulative data to restrict the approvals of immune checkpoint inhibitors based on PD-L1 expression. After reviewing the data, the ODAC voted 10-2 and 11-1 against the risk-benefit profile for PD-L1 inhibitors in various cancers in two separate votes. Committee members expressed concerns about the lack of benefit demonstrated for patients with low PD-L1 expression, while some members pointed to evidence that the use of the imm-une checkpoint inhibitors may add unnecessary toxicities for patients while also increasing financial burdens on patients. If our readers suffer from insomnia, a solution can be found in the near nine hour meeting on YouTube.
The ODAC’s view opens the door for products such as Multikine that work better in low expression PD-L1 tumors and could be a complement or alternative to checkpoint inhibitors for treatment of non-responsive patients.