CHICAGO — I met Cel-Sci CEO Geert Kersten for the first time on Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The company presented a poster describing the results of its Phase 3 study of the immunotherapy Multikine in patients with head and neck cancer.
Kersten introduced me to someone else as a “journalist,” which I appreciated because he usually describes me as an “aging blogger.” He was kind enough to walk me through the Multikine data, insisting the results from the study were overwhelmingly positive, showing a statistically significant survival benefit for patients treated with Multikine.
I told him he’s wrong. The data on the poster clearly showed the study failed. In fact, patients in the study’s control arm who received standard therapy lived longer than the patients given Multikine. I’ll describe this most-important data below, because Monday was the first time they were disclosed.
About the Author Reprints
Exciting news! STAT has moved its comment section to our subscriber-only app, STAT+ Connect. Subscribe to STAT+ today to join the conversation or join us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Threads. Let's stay connected!
To submit a correction request, please visit our Contact Us page.