Cel-Sci: A Great Buy Looking for Attention

Cel-Sci Corp (CVM) on Tuesday released yet another announcement regarding their L.E.A.P.S. technology and its possible ability to treat or prevent the Swine Flu.

According to the PR, the company

is expanding the pre-clinical testing of its flu vaccine, utilizing its proprietary L.E.A.P.S. technology (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) to determine its efficacy against the more dangerous and virulent virus strains that may arise during the up coming winter flu season.

With Multikine being the big player in the Cel-Sci pipeline and investors anxiously awaiting the commencement of a Phase III trial which will continue testing the head and neck cancer vaccine, one would wonder why the company is so bent on publicizing the pre-clinical L.E.A.P.S. technology when Multikine seems to be resting on the back burner.

The reason should be obvious: the company is looking for attention. But what kind of attention is the real question. The stock price has been hammered over the past year, but has somewhat recovered with the flow of Swine Flu PRs that are burning up the press (but giving very little new information), so that is one way the company benefits - in stock price. By taking advantage of the popularity of the Swine Flu, Cel-Sci can attract new interest to the company and its stock.

However, in my opinion, that is not the only attention that the company is seeking.

With the Swine Flu news practically being shoved down our throats, and at the same time knowing that Cel-Sci is looking for additional funding before initiating the Multikine Phase III trial, I believe that the company is after a quick influx of money - from big pharma, yes, but also from the government.

Nations around the world are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to stockpile anti flu treatments such as Tamiflu and are also looking for new treatments that could prevent the epidemic from further spreading in mutated forms.

Here's where Cel-Sci comes in. With an experimental technology that could possibly accomplish the desired goals of the US government, they may be able to qualify for government grants. This wouldn't help them fund the Multikine trial, but it sure would draw the attention of a big pharma looking to either partner with, or buy out the relatively tiny company. Any federal money for Cel-Sci would be hugely beneficial to the company as a whole. Not only would the advancement of L.E.A.P.S. be accomplished on the government's dime, but many small biotechs have survived for decades on federal grants alone.

As an example, I've followed AVI BioPharma, Inc (AVII) for years. This small biotech has constantly received government money, but has yet to produce anything of value. In fact, it was the Bird Flu scare a few years ago that had the AVII stock trading at nearly nine dollars.

If L.E.A.P.S. can bring in a big buyer or additional funding, then that could be a game changer for the company. However, right now, investors should be concerned with the initiation of the Mulitikine Phase III trial.

If there's still ink left in the printing press after all the Swine Flu updates, hopefully investors can get an idea of where the Phase III trial stands.

That being said, CVM is still a great buy trading at its current levels.

Disclosure: VFC is long CVM and has no position in AVII.

Comments

[User 79117:]

Pure speculation!

Jun 11 09:21 AM

[Briber:]

Have watched and traded CVM for 7 years. That is about as long as they have tried to get a PIII going on multikine. Of course now there are a lot more shares than 7 years ago......

Jun 12 09:09 AM

[drago:]

I have traded cvm since the news(10 years ago) came out of Japen causing the stock to run to $10.00 in less than 48 hours. I speculate this will occur again. Every 10 years?

Jun 15 02:57 PM

[Ellito:]

Maybe true.
10 years ?
kidding ?

Jul 28 03:15 PM