UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C.  20549

SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

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Filed by a Party other than the Registrant   ☐

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(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

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CEL-SCI CORPORATION

8229 Boone Blvd., Suite 802

Vienna, Virginia 22l82

(703) 506-9460

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

TO BE HELD MAY 23, 2023APRIL 19, 2024

To the Shareholders of CEL-SCI Corporation:

Notice is hereby given that the annual meeting of the shareholders of CEL-SCI Corporation (“CEL-SCI”) will be held at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner located at 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22102, on May 23, 2023April 19, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. local time, for the following purposes:

to transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournments or postponements thereof.

March 29, 2023February 23, 2024 is the record date for the determination of shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at the meeting. Shareholders are entitled to one vote for each share held. As of March 29, 2023,February 23, 2024, there were 43,764,19853,979,231 outstanding shares of CEL-SCI’s common stock.

The Board of Directors solicits the enclosed proxy. Your vote is important no matter how large or small your holdings. To assure your representation at the meeting, please vote promptly.

Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials for the Shareholder Meeting to be held on May 23, 2023.April 19, 2024.  This Proxy Statement is available at: https://cel-sci.com/sec-filings/.

PLEASE INDICATE YOUR VOTING INSTRUCTIONS ON THE ATTACHED PROXY CARD,

AND SIGN, DATE AND RETURN THE PROXY CARD, OR VOTE VIA THE INTERNET

OR BY TELEPHONE

TO SAVE THE COST OF FURTHER SOLICITATION, PLEASE VOTE PROMPTLY

CEL-SCI CORPORATION

8229 Boone Blvd., Suite 802

Vienna, Virginia 22l82

(703) 506-9460

PROXY STATEMENT

The accompanying proxy is solicited by CEL-SCI’s directors for voting at the annual meeting of shareholders to be held on May 23, 2023,April 19, 2024, and at any and all adjournments of such meeting. If the proxy is executed and returned, it will be voted at the meeting in accordance with any instructions, and if no specification is made, the proxy will be voted for the proposals set forth in the accompanying notice of the annual meeting of shareholders. Shareholders who execute proxies may revoke them at any time before they are voted, either by writing to CEL-SCI at the address shown above or in person at the time of the meeting. Additionally, any later dated proxy will revoke a previous proxy from the same shareholder. This proxy statement was posted on CEL-SCI’s website on or about April 10, 2023.March 7, 2024.

There is one class of capital stock outstanding. Provided a quorum consisting of one-third of the shares entitled to vote is present at the meeting, the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares of common stock voting in person or represented by proxy is required to elect directors. Cumulative voting in the election of directors is not permitted. The other proposals to come before the meeting will be adopted if votes cast in favor of the proposal exceed the votes cast against the proposal.

Shares of CEL-SCI’s common stock represented by properly executed proxies that reflect abstentions or “broker non-votes”"broker non-votes" will be counted as present for purposes of determining the presence of a quorum at the annual meeting. “Broker non-votes” represent shares held by brokerage firms in “street-name”"street-name" with respect to which the broker has not received instructions from the customer or otherwise does not have discretionary voting authority. Abstentions and broker non-votes will not be counted as having voted against the proposals to be considered at the meeting.

Preliminary voting results will be announced at the Annual Meeting. In addition, final voting results will be published in a current report on Form 8-K that CEL-SCI expects to file within four business days after the Annual Meeting.

PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS

The following table lists, as of March 29, 2023,February 23, 2024, information with respect to the persons owning beneficially 5% or more of CEL-SCI’s outstanding common stock and the number and percentage of outstanding shares owned by each director and officer of CEL-SCI and by the officers and directors as a group. Unless otherwise indicated, each owner has sole voting and investment powers over his or her shares of common stock.

* Less than 1% of outstanding shares.

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

Information concerning CEL-SCI’s officers and directors follows:

The directors of CEL-SCI serve in such capacity until the next annual meeting of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's shareholders or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified. The officers of CEL-SCI serve at the discretion of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's directors. CEL-SCI’s officers devote substantially all of their time to CEL-SCI’s business.

The principal occupations of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's officers and directors, during the past several years, are as follows:

Geert Kersten has served in his current leadership role at CEL-SCI since 1995. Mr. Kersten has been with CEL-SCI since 1987. He has been involved in the pioneering field of cancer immunotherapy for over three decades and has successfully steered CEL-SCI through many challenging cycles in the biotechnology industry. Mr. Kersten also provides CEL-SCI with significant expertise in the fields of finance and law and has a unique vision of how CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Multikine product could potentially change the way cancer is treated. Prior to joining CEL-SCI, Mr. Kersten worked at the law firm of Finley & Kumble and worked at Source Capital, an investment banking firm located in McLean, VA. He is a native of Germany, graduated from high school in England, and completed his studies in the US. Mr. Kersten received his Undergraduate Degree in Accounting and an M.B.A. from George Washington University, and a law degree (J.D.) from American University in Washington, DC. Mr. Kersten’s experience overseeing the financing and research and development of CEL-SCI for over 30 years qualifies him to continue to serve on CEL-SCI’s board of directors.

Patricia B. Prichep joined CEL-SCI in 1992 and has been CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Senior Vice President of Operations since March 1994. Between December 1992 and March 1994, Ms. Prichep was CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Director of Operations. Ms. Prichep became CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Corporate Secretary in May 2000. She is responsible for all day-to-day operations of CEL-SCI, including human resources and is the liaison with CEL-SCI’s independent registered public accounting firm for financial reporting. From June 1990 to December 1992, Ms. Prichep was the Manager of Quality and Productivity for the NASD’s Management, Systems and Support Department and was responsible for the internal auditing and work flow analysis of operations. Between 1982 and 1990, Ms. Prichep was Vice President and Operations Manager for Source Capital, Ltd. She handled all operations and compliance for Source Capital and was licensed as a securities broker. Ms. Prichep received her B.A. from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Eyal Talor, Ph.D. joined CEL-SCI in October 1993. In October 2009, Dr. Talor was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to this promotion, Dr. Talor was the Senior Vice President of Research and Manufacturing. He is a clinical immunologist with over 27 years of hands-on management of clinical research and drug development for immunotherapy application; pre-clinical to Phase III clinical trials, in the biopharmaceutical industry. His expertise includes biopharmaceutical R&D and Biologics product development, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) manufacture, Quality Control testing, and the design and building of GMP manufacturing and testing facilities. He served as Director of Clinical Laboratories (certified by the State of Maryland) and has experience in the design of pre-clinical and clinical trials (Phase I – III) and GCP (Good Clinical Practices) requirements. He also has broad experience in the different aspects of biological assay development, analytical methods validation, raw material specifications, and QC (Quality Control) tests development under FDA/GMP, USP, and ICH guidelines. He has extensive experience in the preparation of documentation for IND and other regulatory submissions. His scientific area of expertise encompasses immune response assessment. He is the author of over 25 publications and has published a number of reviews on immune regulations in relation to clinical immunology. Before coming to CEL-SCI, he was Director of R&D and Clinical Development at CBL, Inc., Principal Scientist - Project Director, and Clinical Laboratory Director at SRA Technologies, Inc. Prior to that he was a full time faculty member at The Johns Hopkins University, Medical Institutions; School of Public Health. He has invented technologies which are covered by ten issued patents on Multikine’s composition of matter and method of use in cancer and two platform Peptide technologies, Antigen Directed Apoptosis of T-cells (‘Adapt’) and LEAPS, for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, asthma, allergy, transplantation rejection and infectious diseases. He also is responsible for numerous product and process inventions as well as a number of pending US and PCT patent applications. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and had post-doctoral training in clinical and cellular immunology at The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He holds an Associate teaching position at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions.

Daniel H. Zimmerman, Ph.D. was CEL-SCI’shas been CEL-SCI's Senior Vice President of Research, Cellular Immunology between 1996 and December 2008 and again since November 2009.  He joined CEL-SCI in January 1996 as the Vice President of Research, Cellular Immunology. Dr. Zimmerman founded CELL-MED, Inc. and was its president from 1987-1995.  From 1973-1987, Dr. Zimmerman served in various positions at Electronucleonics, Inc. His positions included: Scientist, Senior Scientist, Technical Director and Program Manager.  Dr. Zimmerman held various teaching positions at Montgomery College between 1987 and 1995. Dr. Zimmerman has invented technologies which are covered by over a dozen US patents as well as many foreign equivalent patents. He is the author of over 50 scientific publications in the area of immunology and infectious diseases. He has been awarded numerous grants from National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and the Department of Defense, or DOD.  From 1969-1973, Dr. Zimmerman was a Senior Staff Fellow at NIH. For the following 25 years, he continued on at NIH as a guest worker. Dr. Zimmerman received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1969, and a Masters in Zoology in 1966 from the University of Florida as well as a B.S. in Biology from Emory and Henry College in 1963.

John Cipriano washas been CEL-SCI’s Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs between March 2004 and December 2008 and again since October 2009.  Mr. Cipriano brings to CEL-SCI over 30 years of experience with both biotech and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, he held positions at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Deputy Director, Division of Biologics Investigational New Drugs, Office of Biologics Research and Review and was the Deputy Director, IND Branch, Division of Biologics Evaluation, Office of Biologics.  Mr. Cipriano completed his B.S. in Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston, Massachusetts and his M.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Peter R. Young, Ph.D. has been a Director of CEL-SCI since August 2002. Dr. Young has been a senior executive within the pharmaceutical industry in the United States and Canada for most of his career, originally in organizations that are now part of Sanofi S.A. Over the last 20 years he has primarily held positions of Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer and has extensive experience with acquisitions and equity financing. Since November 2001, Dr. Young has been the President of Agnus Dei, LLC, which has acted as a partner in an organization managing immune system clinics which treat patients with diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis. Dr. Young was also the President and Chief Executive Officer of SRL Technology, Inc., a company involved in the development of pharmaceutical drug delivery systems.  Between 1998 and 2001, Dr. Young was the Chief Financial Officer of Adams Laboratories, Inc., the developer of Mucinex®. Dr. Young received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Bristol, England after obtaining his Bachelor’sBachelor's degree in Honors Chemistry, Mathematics and Economics. Subsequently, he qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.  CEL-SCI believes Dr. Young’s extensive knowledge of the life sciences industry, coupled with his business acumen and financial expertise, gives him the qualifications and skills to serve as a director and the chair of CEL-SCI’s audit, nominating and compensation committees.Audit Committee.

Bruno Baillavoine joined CEL-SCI’s board of directors in June 2015. Since 2017, Mr. Baillavoine has been the Director, Head of Pericles Group UK, the subsidiary of the Paris based leading French consulting firm, Pericles Consulting Holdings SAS. Pericles is an expert in the fields of Banking, Finance, Asset Management and Insurance with over 350500 institutional clients. Since November 2022, Mr. Baillavoine has been a director, initially non-executive, now executive of ESG.AI, a Canadian Company. Since July 2023, Mr. Baillavoine has been Executive Chair of Gratomic Inc., a Canadian Graphite mining company listed on the TSXV. He has also been an advisor to the Board of CSL Inc., Combatives Sports League,now “Combat Sport Entertainment”, a US Mixed Martial Arts company sincefrom 2017 to 2022 and was appointed toretains a financial interest in the Board in 2019.Company. Between 2010-2016, Mr. Baillavoine was a partner of Globomass Holdings Limited, a London, England based developer of renewable energy projectsprojects. He became Executive Chairmans from concept through final operations. From 2012 and 2016 Mr. Baillavoine was the Executive Chairman of Globomass Holdings.to 2016. Globomass was acquired by CleanBay Inc. in 2016. Mr. Baillavoine remains a significant shareholder in CleanBay Inc. Between 1978 and 1982 he was the marketing manager of Ravenhead Ltd., a manufacturer of glass tableware, and part of United Distillers Group (later acquired by Grand Metropolitan). During this time Mr. Baillavoine became the UK Business Manager where he restored market share and profit for United Distillers. From 1982 to 1986 Mr. Baillavoine was Group Corporate Planning and Group Marketing Director for Prontaprint where he expanded the number of shops to 500 locations in four years. Mr. Baillavoine was with Grand Metropolitan Plc between 1986-1988 (now Diageo Plc), a FTSE 100 beverage, food, hotel and leisure company, as director in the Special Operations division. In this capacity, he developed plans for Grand Met’s trouble-shooting division for over 20,000 Grand Met retail outlets. From 1988-1991 he was the Managing Director of Nutri Systems (UK) Ltd., a subsidiary of the US based provider of professionally supervised weight loss programs. Between 1991 and 1995, Mr. Baillavoine was Director of BET Group plc, a multinational business support services group, and in 1992, was promoted to the Managing Director for the manufacturing businesses. The £2.3 billion turnaround of BET during his tenure is one of the most successful turnarounds of a top 100 FTSE company. Since 1995, Mr. Baillavoine has held a number of CEO positions across a wide range of industries and geographical locations. Mr. Baillavoine has European and American educations (US high school and University of Wisconsin Eau Claire 1972-1976). CEL-SCI believes Mr. Ballavoine is qualified to act as a director due to his extensive business experience and success in the turnaround and growth of global businesses.businesses and serves as the chair of CEL-SCI’s Nominating and Governance Committee.

Robert Watson has been a director of CEL-SCI since December 2017. Mr. Watson has beenwas the President and CEO of Juvare, LLC (formerly Intermedix, Inc.) sincefrom July 2017.2017 to July 2023. At present he is a Director of Juvare, LLC. Immediately prior to joining Intermedix, now Juvare, he was the President and Chief Growth Officer of NantHealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: NH) from January 2015 to May 2017. Prior to NantHealth, he was President and CEO of Streamline Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: STRM) from January 2011 to January 2015. Mr. Watson has over 3540 years of experience in the healthcare information technology industry as a CEO, board member and advisor to multiple healthcare information technology companies. He has participated in over 75 acquisitions, raised nearly $750 million in capital, completed three public offerings and successfully sold fourfive companies. Mr. Watson holds a MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA degree from Syracuse University. Mr. Watson’s business experience and educational background makes him qualified to serve as a director of CEL-SCI.

Gail K. Naughton, Ph.D. has been a Director of CEL-SCI since August 2022. Dr. Naughton has been a pioneer in the field of regenerative medicine for over 35 years. She was the founder of Advanced Tissue Sciences where she oversaw the design and development of the world’s first up-scaled manufacturing facility for cell-based products, established corporate development and marketing partnerships with companies including Smith & Nephew, Ltd., Medtronic and Inamed Corporation, was pivotal in raising over $350M from the public market and corporate partnerships, and brought four human cell-based products from concept through FDA approval and market launch. Dr. Naughton founded Histogen Inc. in 2007 and holds more than 125 U.S. and foreign patents and has been extensively published in the field. Dr. Naughton served as Dean of the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University from 2002 until 2011, where she helped to make SDSU the first US campus to establish a Ph.D./MBA in life sciences. In 2000, Dr. Naughton received the 27th Annual National Inventor of the Year award by the Intellectual Property Owners Association in honor of her pioneering work in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. Naughton received her Ph.D. and M.S. from NYU Medical Center, and an MBA from UCLA. She currently sits on the Board of directors of Therapeutics MD and is the Chair of the Board of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.Immunology and is the Executive Chair for for-profit BiOHIP INC. CEL-SCI believes Dr. Naughton’s extensive knowledge and experience in the life sciences industry gives her the qualifications and skills to serve as a director.director and serve as the chair of CEL-SCI’s Compensation Committee.

Dr. Young and Dr. Naughton are not being nominated to serve as directors at the annual meeting.

CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors does not have a “leadership structure”, as such, since each director is entitled to introduce resolutions to be considered by the Board and each director is entitled to one vote on any resolution considered by the Board. CEL-SCI’s Chief Executive Officer is not the Chairman of CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors.

CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors has the ultimate responsibility to evaluate and respond to risks facing CEL-SCI. CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors fulfills its obligations in this regard by meeting on a regular basis and communicating, when necessary, with CEL-SCI’s officers.

Dr. Peter R. Young, Bruno Baillavoine, Robert Watson and Dr. Gail Naughton are independent directors as that term is defined in section 803 of the listing standards of the NYSE American.

CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors met sixnine times during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022.2023. All of the Directors attended eight of these meetings, either in person or by telephone conference call.call, and four directors attended the remaining meeting. Gail Naughton did not attend one of the meetings. In addition, the Board of Directors had a number of informal telephonic meetings during the course of the year.

CEL-SCI has adopted a Code of Ethics which is applicable to CEL-SCI’S principal executive, financial, and accounting officers and persons performing similar functions. The Code of Ethics is available on CEL-SCI’s website, located at https://cel-sci.com/new-investor-information/.

If a violation of this code of ethics act is discovered or suspected, any person (anonymously, if desired) may send a detailed note, with relevant documents, to CEL-SCI’s Audit Committee, c/o Dr. Peter Young, 208 Hewitt Drive, Suite 103-143, Waco, TX 76712.

For purposes of electing directors at its annual meeting, CEL-SCI has a nominating committeeNominating and Governance Committee that is made up of CEL-SCI’s independent directors. The nominating committeeNominating and Governance Committee selects the nominees to the Board of Directors which are subject to election by CEL-SCI’s shareholders. Unless the proxy contains contrary instructions, it is intended that the proxies will be voted for the election of the nominees to the board of directors. In case any nominee shall be unable or shall fail to act as a director by virtue of an unexpected occurrence, the proxies may be voted for such other person or persons as shall be determined by the persons acting under the proxies in their discretion. All nominees to the board of directors have consented to stand for election. CEL-SCI’s Nominating and Governance Committee Charter can be reviewed at CEL-SCI’s website: https://cel-sci.com/new-investor-information/.

CEL-SCI does not have any policy regarding the consideration of director candidates recommended by shareholders and under Colorado law, any shareholder can nominate a person for election as a director at the annual shareholders’ meeting. However, CEL-SCI’s Board of Directors will consider candidates recommended by shareholders. To submit a candidate for the Board of Directors the shareholder should send the name, address and telephone number of the candidate, together with any relevant background or biographical information, to CEL-SCI’s Chief Executive Officer, at the address shown on the cover page of this Proxy Statement. The Board has not established any specific qualifications or skills a nominee must meet to serve as a director. Although the Board does not have any process for identifying and evaluating director nominees, the Board does not believe there would be any differences in the manner in which the Board evaluates nominees submitted by shareholders as opposed to nominees submitted by any other person.

CEL-SCI does not have a policy with regard to Board members’ attendance at annual meetings. All Board members attended the last annual shareholders’ meeting held on June 13, 2022.May 23, 2023.

Holders of CEL-SCI’s common stock can send written communications to CEL-SCI’s entire Board of Directors, or to one or more Board members, by addressing the communication to “the Board of Directors” or to one or more directors, specifying the director or directors by name, and sending the communication to CEL-SCI’s offices in Vienna, Virginia. Communications addressed to the Board of Directors as whole will be delivered to each Board member. Communications addressed to a specific director (or directors) will be delivered to the director (or directors) specified.

A security holder communication not sent to the Board of Directors as a whole is not relayed to Board members which did not receive the communication.

Executive Compensation

Components of Compensation - Executive Officers

CEL-SCI’s executive officers are compensated through the following three components:

These components provide a balanced mix of base compensation and compensation that is contingent upon each executive officer’s individual performance. A goal of the compensation program is to provide executive officers with a reasonable level of security through base salary and benefits.  CEL-SCI wants to ensure that the compensation programs are appropriately designed to encourage executive officer retention and motivation to create shareholder value. The Compensation Committee believes that CEL-SCI’s stockholders are best served when CEL-SCI can attract and retain talented executives by providing compensation packages that are competitive but fair. 

Base Salaries

Base salaries generally have been targeted to be competitive when compared to the salary levels of persons holding similar positions in other pharmaceutical companies and other publicly traded companies of comparable size. Each executive officer’s respective responsibilities, experience, expertise and individual performance are considered.

A further consideration in establishing compensation for the senior employees is their long term history with CEL-SCI.  Taken into consideration are factors that have helped CEL-SCI survive in times when it was financially weak, such as: willingness to accept salary cuts, willingness not to be paid at all for extended time periods, and in general an attitude that helped CEL-SCI survive during financially difficult times. 

Long-Term Incentives

Stock grants and option grants help to align the interests of CEL-SCI’s officers, directors and employees with those of its shareholders.  Options and stock grants are made under CEL-SCI’s Stock Option, Incentive Stock Bonus, Stock Bonus and Stock Compensation Plans.  Options are granted with exercise prices equal to the closing price of CEL-SCI’s common stock on the day immediately preceding the date of grant, with pro rata vesting at the end of each of the following three years.  

CEL-SCI believes that grants of equity-based compensation:

Benefits

In addition to cash and equity compensation programs, executive officers participate in the health and welfare benefit programs available to other employees. In a few limited circumstances, CEL-SCI provides other benefits to certain executive officers, such as car allowances.

All executive officers are eligible to participate in CEL-SCI’s 401(k) plan on the same basis as its other employees. CEL-SCI matches 100% of each employee’s contribution up to 6% of his or her salary.

The following table sets forth in summary form the compensation received by (i) the Chief Executive and Financial Officer of CEL-SCI and (ii) by each other executive officer of CEL-SCI who received in excess of $100,000 during the two fiscal years ended September 30, 2022.2023.

Employee Pension, Profit Sharing or Other Retirement Plans

CEL-SCI has a defined contribution retirement plan, qualifying under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code and covering substantially all of CEL-SCI’s employees. CEL-SCI’s contribution to the plan is made in shares of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock. Each participant’sparticipant's contribution is matched by CEL-SCI with shares of common stock which have a value equal to 100% of the participant’sparticipant's contribution, not to exceed the lesser of $10,000 or 6% of the participant’sparticipant's total compensation. CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's contribution of common stock is valued each quarter based upon the closing price of its common stock. The fiscal 20222023 expenses for this plan were approximately $6,000.$5,000. Other than the 401(k) Plan, CEL-SCI does not have a defined benefit, pension plan, profit sharing or other retirement plan.

Compensation of Directors During Year Ended September 30, 20222023

Directors’ fees paid to Geert Kersten are included in the Executive Compensation table.

Employment Contracts

Geert Kersten

On August 31, 2019, CEL-SCI entered into a four-year employment agreement with Geert Kersten, CEL-SCI’s Chief Executive Officer. The employment agreement with Mr. Kersten, which is essentially the same as Mr. Kersten’s prior employment agreement, as amended on August 30, 2016, providesprovided that, during the term of the agreement, CEL-SCI would pay Mr. Kersten an annual salary of $559,052, plus any increases in proportion to salary increases granted to other senior executive officers of CEL-SCI, as well any increases approved by the Board of Directors during the term of the employment agreement. On October 26, 2023, CEL-SCI agreed that the term of the employment agreement would be extended to August 31, 2027. All other terms of the employment agreement remain the same.

During the employment term, Mr. Kersten will be entitled to receive any other benefits which are provided to CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's executive officers or other full time employees in accordance with CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's policies and practices and subject to Mr. Kersten’s satisfaction of any applicable conditions of eligibility.

If Mr. Kersten resigns after the occurrence of any of the following events: (i) a reduction in Mr. Kersten’s salary (ii) a relocation (or demand for relocation) of Mr. Kersten’s place of employment to a location more than ten (10) miles from his current place of employment, (iii) a significant and material reduction in Mr. Kersten’s authority, job duties or level of responsibility or the imposition of significant and material limitations on Mr. Kersten’s autonomy in his position, or (iv) a Change in Control, then the employment agreement will be terminated and Mr. Kersten will be entitled to receive a lump-sum payment from CEL-SCI equal to 24 months of salary ($1,232,710)1,288,182) and the unvested portion of any stock options would vest immediately. For purposes of the employment agreement a change in the control of CEL-SCI means: (1) the merger of CEL-SCI with another entity if after such merger the shareholders of CEL-SCI do not own at least 50% of voting capital stock of the surviving corporation; (2) the sale of substantially all of the assets of CEL-SCI; (3) the acquisition by any person of more than 50% of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock; or (4) a change in a majority of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's directors which has not been approved by the incumbent directors. 

The employment agreement will also terminate upon the death of Mr. Kersten or Mr. Kersten’s physical or mental disability. If the employment agreement is terminated for any of these reasons, Mr. Kersten, or his legal representatives, as the case may be, will be paid the salary provided by the employment agreement through the date of termination, any options or bonus shares of CEL-SCI then held by Mr. Kersten will become fully vested and the expiration date of any options which would expire during the four year period following his termination of employment will be extended to the date which is four years after his termination of employment. The employment agreement will also terminate upon the willful misconduct, an act of fraud against CEL-SCI, or a breach of the employment agreement by Mr. Kersten, in which case Mr. Kersten will be paid the salary provided by the employment agreement through the date of termination.

Patricia B. Prichep / Eyal Talor, Ph.D.

On August 31, 2019, CEL-SCI entered into a four-year employment agreement with Patricia B. Prichep, CEL-SCI’s Senior Vice President of Operations.  The employment agreement with Ms. Prichep, which is essentially the same as Ms. Prichep’s prior employment agreement entered into on August 30, 2016, providesprovided that, during the term of the agreement, CEL-SCI would pay Ms. Prichep an annual salary of $245,804 plus any increases approved by the Board of Directors during the period of the employment agreement.  On August 31, 2023, CEL-SCI agreed that the term of the employment agreement would be extended to August 31, 2027.  All other terms of the employment agreement remain the same.

On August 31, 2019, CEL-SCI entered into a four-year employment agreement with Eyal Talor, Ph.D., CEL-SCI’s Chief Scientific Officer. The employment agreement with Dr. Talor, which is essentially the same as Dr. Talor’s prior employment agreement entered into on August 30, 2016, providesprovided that, during the term of the agreement, CEL-SCI would pay Dr. Talor an annual salary of $303,453 plus any increases approved by the Board of Directors during the period of the employment agreement. On August 31, 2023, CEL-SCI agreed that the term of the employment agreement would be extended to August 31, 2027. All other terms of the employment agreement remain the same.

If Ms. Prichep or Dr. Talor resigns after the occurrence of any of the following events: (i) a relocation (or demand for relocation) of the employee’s place of employment to a location more than ten (10) miles from the employee’s current place of employment, (ii) a significant and material reduction in the employee’s authority, job duties or level of responsibility, (iii) the imposition of significant and material limitations on the employee’s autonomy in her or his position, or (iv) there is a change in the control of CEL-SCI, the employment agreements with Ms. Prichep and Dr. Talor allow Ms. Prichep and/or Dr. Talor (as the case may be) to resign from her or his position at CEL-SCI and receive a lump-sum payment from CEL-SCI equal to 18 months of salary ($406,498424,790 and $501,836$524,419 respectively). In addition, the unvested portion of any stock options held by the employee will vest immediately.

For purposes of the employment agreements, a change in the control of CEL-SCI means: (1) the merger of CEL-SCI with another entity if after such merger the shareholders of CEL-SCI do not own at least 50% of voting capital stock of the surviving corporation; (2) the sale of substantially all of the assets of CEL-SCI; (3) the acquisition by any person of more than 50% of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock; or (4) a change in a majority of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's directors which has not been approved by the incumbent directors.

The employment agreements with Ms. Prichep and Dr. Talor will also terminate upon the death of the employee, the employee’s physical or mental disability, willful misconduct, an act of fraud against CEL-SCI, or a breach of the employment agreement by the employee. If the employment agreement is terminated for any of these reasons the employee, or her or his legal representatives, as the case may be, will be paid the salary provided by the employment agreement through the date of termination.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

CEL-SCI has a compensation committee comprised of Dr. Peter Young, Mr. Bruno Baillavoine and Dr. Peter Young and Mr. Robert Watson,Gail Naughton, all of whom are independent directors.

During the year ended September 30, 2022,2023, no director or executive officer of CEL-SCI was also an executive officer of another entity, which had an executive officer of CEL-SCI serving as a director of such entity or as a member of the compensation committee of another entity which had one of its executive officers serving as a director of CEL-SCI or as a member of CEL-SCI’s compensation committee.such entity.

Stock Option, Bonus and Compensation Plans

CEL-SCI has Incentive Stock Option Plans, Non-Qualified Stock Option Plans, Stock Bonus Plans, Stock Compensation Plans and an Incentive Stock Bonus Plan. All Stock Option, Bonus and Compensation Plans have been approved by theCEL-SCI’s stockholders. A summary description of these Plans follows. In some cases these Plans are collectively referred to as the “Plans”"Plans".

Incentive Stock Option Plans. The Incentive Stock Option Plans authorize the issuance of shares of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock to persons who exercise options granted pursuant to the Plans. Only CEL-SCI’s employees may be granted options pursuant to the Incentive Stock Option Plans.

Options may not be exercised until one year following the date of grant. Options granted to an employee then owning more than 10% of the common stock of CEL-SCI may not be exercisable by its terms after five years from the date of grant. Any other option granted pursuant to the Plans may not be exercisable by its terms after ten years from the date of grant.

The option exercise price is determined by CEL-SCI’s Compensation Committee but cannot be less than the fair market value of the common stock on the date of the grant of the option (or 110% of the fair market value in the case of a person owning more than 10% of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's outstanding shares).

Non-Qualified Stock Option Plans. The Non-Qualified Stock Option Plans authorize the issuance of shares of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock to persons that exercise options granted pursuant to the Plans. CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's employees, directors, officers, consultants and advisors are eligible to be granted options pursuant to the Plans, provided however that bona fide services must be rendered by such consultants or advisors and such services must not be in connection with a capital-raising transaction or promoting CEL-SCI’s common stock. The option exercise price is determined by CEL-SCI’s Compensation Committee.

Stock Bonus Plans. Under the Stock Bonus Plans shares of CEL-SCI’s common stock may be issued to CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's employees, directors, officers, consultants and advisors, provided however that bona fide services must be rendered by consultants or advisors and such services must not be in connection with a capital-raising transaction or promoting CEL-SCI’s common stock.

Stock Compensation Plans. Under the Stock Compensation Plans, shares of CEL-SCI’s common stock may be issued to CEL-SCI’s employees, directors, officers, consultants and advisors in payment of salaries, fees and other compensation owed to these persons. However, bona fide services must be rendered by consultants or advisors and such services must not be in connection with a capital-raising transaction or promoting CEL-SCI’s common stock.

Incentive Stock Bonus Plan. Under the 2014 Incentive Stock Bonus Plan, shares of CEL-SCI’s common stock may be issued to executive officers and other employees who contribute significantly to the success of CEL-SCI. The purpose of the Plan is to provide long term incentive for outstanding service to CEL-SCI and its shareholders, to assist in recruiting and retaining people of outstanding ability and initiative in executive and management positions to allow officers and employees to participate in CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's future prosperity and growth, and to align the interests of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's officers and employees with those of its shareholders.

Other Information Regarding the Plans. The Plans are administered by CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Compensation Committee (“the Committee”), each member of which is a director of CEL-SCI. The members of the Committee were selected by CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's Board of Directors and serve for a one-year tenure and until their successors are elected. A member of the Committee may be removed at any time by action of the Board of Directors. Any vacancies which may occur on the Committee will be filled by the Board of Directors. The Committee is vested with the authority to interpret the provisions of the Plans and supervise the administration of the Plans. In addition, the Committee is empowered to select those persons to whom shares or options are to be granted, to determine the number of shares subject to each grant of a stock bonus or an option and to determine when, and upon what conditions, shares or options granted under the Plans will vest or otherwise be subject to forfeiture and cancellation.

In the discretion of the Committee, any option granted pursuant to the Plans may include installment exercise terms such that the option becomes fully exercisable in a series of cumulating portions. The Committee may also accelerate the date upon which any option (or any part of any options) is first exercisable. Any shares issued pursuant to the Stock Bonus Plans or Stock Compensation Plans and any options granted pursuant to the Incentive Stock Option Plans or the Non-Qualified Stock Option Plans will be forfeited if the “vesting”"vesting" schedule established by the Committee administering the Plans at the time of the grant is not met. For this purpose, vesting means the period during which the employee must remain an employee of CEL-SCI or the period of time a non-employee must provide services to CEL-SCI. At the time an employee ceases working for CEL-SCI (or at the time a non-employee ceases to perform services for CEL-SCI), any shares or options not fully vested will be forfeited and cancelled. At the discretion of the Committee payment for the shares of common stock underlying options may be paid through the delivery of shares of CEL-SCI’sCEL-SCI's common stock having an aggregate fair market value equal to the option price, provided such shares have been owned by the option holder for at least one year prior to such exercise. A combination of cash and shares of common stock may also be permitted at the discretion of the Committee.

Options are generally non-transferable except upon the death of the option holder. Shares issued pursuant to the Stock Bonus Plans will generally not be transferable until the person receiving the shares satisfies the vesting requirements imposed by the Committee when the shares were issued.

The Board of Directors of CEL-SCI may at any time, and from time to time, amend, terminate, or suspend one or more of the Plans in any manner it deems appropriate, provided that such amendment, termination or suspension may not adversely affect rights or obligations with respect to shares or options previously granted.

Stock Options

During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022, CEL-SCI granted 250,000 performance-based stock options from the 2020 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan to its officers. Each option entitles the holder to purchase one share of CEL-SCI’s common stock at a price of $10.48 per share, the fair value on the date of issuance. The stock options will vest 100% upon approval of the first marketing application for any pharmaceutical based upon CEL-SCI’s Multikine technology in any of the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, or Australia. NoneAs of September 30, 2023, none of the options will be exercisable before November 19, 2022.were exercisable. All options which have not vested as of November 18, 2031 will be canceled.

The following table shows information concerning the options granted during the fiscal year ended September 30, 20222023 to the persons named below:

Options Granted

The following table shows the outstanding options held by the persons named below on September 30, 2022:2023: