Cel-Sci Corp. on Thursday said it has signed a letter of intentwith an unnamed underwriter for a $5 million unit offering.

The company, located in Alexandria, Va., said the funds wouldfinance its operations for the next two years.

Cel-Sci, whose burn rate has been about $1.1 million annually,had only $400,000 in the bank as of June 30. With thefinancing, "we are finally going to have the ability to thinkbeyond tomorrow," Geert Kersten, vice president of operations,told BioWorld.

The proposed units would consist of five shares of stock(NASDAQ:CELI) plus five warrants to buy five more shares. Thestock closed Thursday at $1.16, up 3 cents.

If the offering is successful, the proceeds will be used to payfor clinical trials of HGP-30, a core protein AIDS vaccine beingdeveloped in collaboration with Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc.through a joint venture called Viral Technologies Inc. U.S.Phase I trials began in February.

The company's BC-IL natural lymphokine "cocktail," intended tostrengthen the immune system, is in Phase II trials. -- KB

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