CEL-SCI Corp. to undergo reverse stock split on Wednesday

Published September 23, 2013 by Robert Powell, III

A 1-for-10 reverse stock split of CEL-SCI Corp. common stock will take place Wednesday.

Vienna-based CEL-SCI, a late-stage oncology company, said that, on that day, each 10 shares of issued and outstanding common stock and equivalents will be converted into 1 share of common stock.

In addition, the common stock will trade under a new CUSIP number, 150837508. The company's ticker symbol, CVM, will remain unchanged.

The number of outstanding common shares will drop from more than 310 million to about  31 million.

Geert Kersten, CEO of CEL-SCI, said the company has been deliberating changes in its capital structure for many months. “In deciding to move forward with the reverse split we looked at many factors. One that swayed us in the end to move forward with the reverse split is that the capital market rules have changed a great deal since the financial crisis and the number of potential purchasers for a sub $1 stock has significantly decreased,” he said. “We believe the resulting increase in share price will demonstrate the true value of CEL-SCI’s common stock and broaden the appeal of our shares to investors, particularly institutional stockholders.”

The company’s closing stock price on Friday on Nasdaq was 17 cents a share.

CEL-SCI focuses on research and development directed at utilizing the immune system to improving the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Its lead investigational therapy is Multikine, currently being studied in a Phase III clinical trial.