CEL-SCI Corporation (CVM) Reports Data From Study Showing CEL-2000 Vaccine Blocks Progression of Rheumatoid Arthritis
CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE AMEX: CVM) and their scientific collaborators announced today that the Company's CEL-2000 vaccine demonstrated that it is able to block the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a mouse model. The results were published in the scientific peer-reviewed Journal of International Immunopharmacology (online edition) in an article titled "CEL-2000: A Therapeutic Vaccine for Rheumatoid Arthritis Arrests Disease Development and Alters Serum Cytokine / Chemokine Patterns in the Bovine Collagen Type II Induced Arthritis in the DBA Mouse Model" with lead author Dr. Daniel Zimmerman. The study was co-authored by scientists from CEL-SCI, Washington Biotech, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOMP) and Boulder BioPath.
CEL-2000, administered after disease (RA) symptoms had started, prevented, in a statistically significant manner, the further development of arthritic conditions, including joint swelling and deformation, bone and cartilage changes and was accompanied by serum cytokine alterations over the CEL-2000 treatment period with comparable or better activity than the well accepted etanercept (Enbrel®) therapy. The mode of action is very consistent with the findings of induction of IL-12 followed by interferon gamma and an inhibition of TNF-alpha and IL-17 production. TNF-alpha and IL-17 are both key cytokines for induction of the pathology seen in rheumatoid arthritis and TNF-alpha is the target of many current RA therapies such as Enbrel, Remicaid, and Humaria. The protection effect mediated by CEL-2000 treatment against RA was also demonstrated histologically with significant reductions in: 1) inflammation, 2) cartilage destruction, 3) bone resorption, and 4) pannus membrane formation in the synovial space compared to untreated controls.
CEL-2000 may also offer a number of potential advantages over existing rheumatoid arthritis treatments, such as Enbrel. Data collected in the animal studies conducted with CEL-2000 demonstrated that CEL-2000 is an effective treatment against rheumatoid arthritis even with administration of many fewer treatments than for example Enbrel. CEL-2000 is also potentially a more disease-type specific therapy, should be significantly less expensive to manufacture, and finally, CEL-2000 could also be useful for patients who are not able to take or who may be unresponsive to other existing anti-arthritis therapies.
This research featured the multidisciplinary team of collaborators bringing to the project expertise of several different animal models of arthritis (Washington Biotech), long time association with modern molecular therapies and evaluation for RA (Bolder Biopath), experience with other LEAPS immunogens, and experience and expertise studying cytokines and with mechanistic studies of the LEAPS technology (NEOUCOMP), and peptide technologies (21st Century Biochemicals) to complement the expertise of the CEL-SCI researchers.
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