CEL-SCI Corporation announced the Company?s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Eyal Talor, delivered a presentation titled ?Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer: Low Tumor PD-L1 Expression - IT-MATTERS ? RCT? at the International Drug Discovery Science & Technology (IDDST) 20th Annual Congress in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

Dr. Talor presented during the Cancers/Tumors session which he Chaired along with Dr. Elizabeth Tran of Purdue University. Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) is the first investigational pre-surgical cancer drug intended for use in newly diagnosed locally advanced resectable head and neck cancer. There is extensive affirmative safety and efficacy data from 750 patients who have been treated with Multikine.

A randomized, controlled, Phase 3 trial (RCT) in head and neck cancer revealed that Multikine significantly increases overall survival in patients with low levels of tumor cell PD-L1 expression in contrast to checkpoint inhibitors (e.g. Keytruda, Opdivo) which show longer survival benefit in patients with a higher level of tumor cell PD-L1 expression. Tumor cell PD-L1, also known as Programmed Death-Ligand 1, is a protein that plays a crucial role in immune system regulation. It is the target pathway for immune checkpoint inhibitors, a major class of immune-oncology drugs which work by blocking the interaction between tumor cell PD-L1 and the PD-1 receptor on immune effector cells, thereby favoring immune evasion by the tumor.