The regulatory approved CELZ-Biodefense platform is designed to scale to at least 1,000 veterans through AI-enabled mobile-app data collection and field-capable logistics Proprietary CELZ-Biodefense Toxic Exposure Atlas™ intended to support AI-driven drug, biologic, biotherapeutic and regenerative therapy discovery PHOENIX, June 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Creative Medical Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CELZ) ("Creative Medical," "CELZ," or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing regenerative medicine, immune modulation and induced pluripotent stem cell ("iPSC") technologies, today announced the next operational milestone in Project PHOENIX, the Company's regulatory-approved, proprietary AI-driven registry and CELZ-Biodefense Regenerative BioDefense Initiative designed to support U.S. veterans exposed to burn pits, toxic environmental hazards and related service-connected exposure risks. Following CELZ's previously announced BioDefense Veterans Initiative and subsequent regulatory approval to proceed with its BioDefense Burn Pit Initiative, this milestone advances the program from clearance and formation into nationwide virtual participant onboarding, longitudinal data collection and AI-enabled interpretation. The platform is designed to support an initial cohort of at least 1,000 veterans across the United States and to create a scalable foundation for future exposed military and civilian populations. The decentralized model is designed to enable eligible veterans to participate from anywhere in the United States through a virtual mobile-app data collection system that captures exposure history, symptom patterns, patient-reported outcomes, longitudinal health information and other relevant data. When biospecimen collection or additional in-person data capture is required, CELZ's field-capable workflow is designed so trained collection teams can coordinate locally with participating veterans, reducing or eliminating the need for veterans to travel to centralized research sites. The Project PHOENIX / CELZ-Biodefense program can be accessed at www.burnpit.ai "Regulatory approval allowed us to move forward; nationwide virtual execution is what allows us to scale," said Timothy Warbington, President and CEO of Creative Medical Technology Holdings. "Project PHOENIX is designed to meet veterans where they are - through mobile-app engagement, field-capable logistics and AI-driven collection and interpretation - while building a proprietary data engine that may help define the molecular consequences of toxic exposure and guide future therapeutic development in a cost-effective manner." From Regulatory Clearance to Scalable National Execution The announcement is intended to mark a distinct next step beyond CELZ's prior public milestones. The Company previously announced the launch of its BioDefense Veterans Initiative and later announced regulatory approval to proceed with the BioDefense Burn Pit Initiative. The milestone announced today focuses on operational execution: decentralized access, virtual data capture, field-capable collection logistics, multi-omics integration and AI-ready data architecture. Consistent with prior Company disclosures, CELZ expects the current initiative to be executed through existing infrastructure, previously developed intellectual property, internal capabilities and established vendor relationships, and does not currently expect the initiative to require additional fundraising. Management believes this capital-efficient structure supports disciplined execution while preserving optionality for future value-enhancing collaborations. "Capital discipline matters in biotechnology," continued Warbington. "By leveraging infrastructure and technologies already in place, we believe CELZ can advance a national Regenerative BioDefense program while maintaining focus on shareholder value, operational efficiency and the needs of veterans." AI-Driven Multi-Omics Platform Designed to Identify Exposure Biology Project PHOENIX is designed to integrate real-world exposure histories and longitudinal participant data with multi-omics profiling, including, where appropriate and subject to applicable consent, privacy, research and regulatory requirements, genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, inflammatory, immunologic, clinical and cellular-response data. The platform is designed to compare multi-omics signatures from exposed veterans against non-exposed reference populations. By applying AI-driven interpretation algorithms to these exposed-versus-non-exposed datasets, CELZ aims to identify biomarkers, exposure-associated disease pathways, risk signatures and potential therapeutic targets that may support the development of targeted drugs, biologics, biotherapeutics, regenerative cell therapies and other precision interventions for veterans and future exposed patients. The Company believes this model can create multiple strategic outputs: A scalable, AI-ready datase