WILMINGTON, Mass., Nov. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Implant Sciences Corporation (OTCQB:IMSC), a high technology supplier of systems and sensors for homeland security and defense markets, announced today that its QS-B220 explosives trace detectors have been sold to a federal agency in charge of operating 19 airports in one Latin American country. The units will be used for checkpoint screening and air cargo screening.

“With this deployment, our QS-B220 has become the system of choice in explosives trace detection devices for these 19 airports. This is a major milestone for Implant Sciences and gives the Company a significant presence in the Latin American aviation security market,” stated Implant Sciences’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Dr. Darryl Jones. “The QS-B220 was selected based on its favorable total cost of ownership, superior performance capabilities, and its regulatory certifications.”

About the QS-B220 Desktop Explosives Trace Detector

The QS-B220 uses Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) to rapidly detect and identify trace amounts of a wide variety of military, commercial, and homemade explosives. With significantly lower maintenance requirements than competing systems, the QS-B220 can be deployed for a much lower total cost of ownership than other approved products. Featuring a radioactive material-free design, push-button maintenance and diagnostics, and a patented inCal™ internal automatic calibration system, the QS-B220 brings new levels of performance and convenience to desktop trace detection users with unsurpassed ease of use.

About Implant Sciences

Implant Sciences is the leader in next generation Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) technology. In October 2013, the Company became the third ETD manufacturer, and the sole American-owned company, to currently have product qualification from the US Transportation Security Administration. Implant Sciences has developed proprietary technologies used in its commercial explosives and drugs trace detection systems, which ship to a growing number of locations domestically and internationally. Implant Sciences’ QS-H150 handheld explosives trace detector has received Qualified Anti-Terrorism Technology Designation and, in addition to receiving TSA qualification for air cargo screening, the Company’s QS-B220 has also received a Developmental Testing & Evaluation (DT&E) Designation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technology Act of 2002 (the SAFETY Act). For further details on the Company and its products, please visit the Company’s website at www.implantsciences.com.

HAIFA, Israel, Nov. 4, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (PSTI) (TASE:PLTR), a leading developer of placenta-based cell therapies, announced today that its PLacental eXpanded (PLX) cells proved to be safe in an animal study assessing maternal and fetal toxicity. The study was conducted at the Charles River Laboratories, one of the world’s leading contract research organizations. The results showed that the intramuscular administration of PLX-PAD cells to pregnant rats did not result in any maternal or fetal toxicity. Pluristem will pursue the clinical development of PLX-PAD cells for the indication of preeclampsia based on these results and earlier evidence that the cells were efficacious in preeclamptic animal models.

“Pluristem is extremely pleased with the demonstrated safety of our PLX-PAD cells in pre-clinical models of pregnancy,” said Zami Aberman, Chairman and CEO of Pluristem. “This study, together with the work performed by Dr. Brett Mitchell from Texas A&M College of Medicine,suggesting that our PLX-PAD cells are efficacious in preeclamptic animal models, is an important milestone towards our goal of initiating clinical trials for preeclampsia.”

In the study, forty-four pregnant female rats were injected intramuscularly with either PLX-PAD at a dosage of 10 million cells (n=22) or cell-free placebo (n=22), on gestational day 13. Throughout the study the pregnant animals were monitored for viability status, body weight and food consumption. On gestational day 21, female rats were examined for ovarian and uterine contents and abnormalities in dams and pups. Charles River’s report concluded that the IM injection of PLX-PAD cells in pregnant rats did not result in any maternal or fetal developmental toxicity.

About Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is one of the most common medical complications of pregnancy, and one of the leading causes of premature births, stillbirths and early neonatal and maternal deaths. If left untreated, it can progress to eclampsia, the life-threatening occurrence of seizures during pregnancy. The only known treatment for preeclampsia is abortion or delivery. The disease occurs in previously healthy women after their 20th week of pregnancy, and signs include high blood pressure and significant amounts of protein in the urine. According to the World Health Organization, preeclampsia occurs in approximately 6–8% of pregnancies worldwide. It is estimated that preeclampsia costs the global health care system $3 billion annually.

About Pluristem Therapeutics

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is a leading developer of placenta-based cell therapies. The company’s patented PLX (PLacental eXpanded) cells are a drug delivery platform that releases a cocktail of therapeutic proteins in response to a host of local and systemic inflammatory and ischemic diseases. PLX cells are grown using the company’s proprietary 3D expansion technology and are an “off-the-shelf” product that requires no tissue matching prior to administration.

Pluristem has a strong intellectual property position, company-owned GMP certified manufacturing and research facilities, strategic relationships with major research institutions and a seasoned management team. For more information visit www.pluristem.com, the content of which is not part of this press release.

VIENNA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE MKT: CVM) announced today that a second interim review of the safety data from its open label, randomized, controlled, pivotal Phase III study of Multikine* (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) investigational new drug immunotherapy was conducted by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC). The IDMC said that the data raised no safety concerns, and recommended that the Phase III study continue unmodified.

CEL-SCI considers the results of the IDMC review to be important since studies have shown that up to 30% of Phase III trials fail due to safety considerations. The IDMC’s safety findings from this interim review were similar to those reported by investigators during CEL-SCI’s Phase I-II trials. IDMC interim reviews are a standard part of clinical trial protocol. Ultimately, the decision as to whether a drug is safe is made by the FDA based on an assessment of all of the data from a trial.

IDMCs are committees commonly used by sponsors of clinical trials to protect the interests of the patients in ongoing trials especially when the trials involve patients with life threatening diseases, and when, as in cancer clinical trials, they extend over long periods of time. The CEL-SCI IDMC includes prominent physicians and scientists from major institutions in the USA and abroad who are key opinion leaders in head and neck cancer and who are knowledgeable in all of the disciplines related to CEL-SCI’s study, including statistics.

Following the First Safety review by the IDMC for this study, which stated that there were no safety concerns, CEL-SCI has doubled its efforts to expand the study to many more clinical sites in the US and Europe in order to increase the accrual rate to the study. CEL-SCI terminated Inventiv Clinical and in its place engaged Aptiv Solutions, a US-based clinical research organization (CRO) and Ergomed, a European-based CRO, to help in securing clinical sites and increasing the number of subjects accrued to the study. CEL-SCI recently filed an arbitration claim against Inventiv alleging (i) breach of contract, (ii) fraud in the inducement, and (iii) common law fraud, seeking at least $50 million in damages.

The Multikine Phase III study is enrolling patients with advanced primary, not yet treated, head and neck cancer on three continents around the world. The objective of the study is to demonstrate a statistically significant 10% improvement in overall survival of enrolled patients who are treated with Multikine plus Standard of Care (SOC) vs. subjects who are treated with SOC only. The universally accepted current standard of care for the patient population being enrolled in the CEL-SCI study is surgery plus radiation or surgery plus concurrent radiation and chemotherapy, dependent on the risk factors for recurrence found after surgery. Multikine treated patients receive 15 local injections of Multikine over a 3 week period prior to standard of care treatment. Multikine injections are administered in the area around the tumor and in the area of the adjacent lymphnodes since those two areas are where the tumor is most likely to recur. Multikine is intended to create an anti-tumor immune response to reduce local / regional tumor recurrence and thereby increase the survival of these patients.

Multikine is the first immunotherapeutic agent being developed as a potential first-line treatment for advanced primary head and neck cancer. If it were to be approved for use following completion of our clinical development program, Multikine would become an additional and different kind of therapy in the fight against cancer: one that employs our body’s natural ability to fight tumors.