Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:
CGEN), a leading predictive drug discovery company, announced today
that it has achieved the third preclinical milestone pursuant to its
cancer immunotherapy collaboration with Bayer HealthCare (Bayer). The
collaboration provides for the research, development, and
commercialization of antibody-based cancer therapeutics against two
novel Compugen-discovered immune checkpoint regulators, CGEN-15001T and
CGEN-15022.
The milestone payment being announced today, and the two previous
milestone payments received by Compugen under the collaboration, all
relate to CGEN-15001T, which is the more advanced of the two programs.
This program, for which US and EU patents have been granted to Compugen,
is demonstrating encouraging functional activity in preclinical models
of cancer immunotherapy. Upon achievement of this third milestone, this
program has now been transferred to Bayer’s full control for further
preclinical and clinical development activities, and worldwide
commercialization, under milestone and royalty bearing licenses from
Compugen.
CGEN-15022, which is at an earlier stage than CGEN-15001T, continues
under the joint preclinical research program, with results from these
activities providing promising support for the target’s ability to
modulate immune response via a potentially novel mechanism of action,
and the target is currently being further characterized regarding its
role in anti-cancer immune response.
“We are very pleased to have reached this milestone, which marks the
successful completion of the joint pre-clinical work for one of the two
immuno-oncology candidates under the Bayer/Compugen collaboration. Now
that this program is transferred to Bayer for further preclinical and
clinical development, we view this as further testimony to the power of
drug discovery via computational predictions,” said Anat Cohen-Dayag,
Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Compugen. “Since the
very beginning of this partnership, there has been continuing progress
on both programs, including a growing understanding of target biology,
in addition to the advancement of therapeutic candidates in a joint
preclinical research program. Each program presents a distinctive
differentiation profile compared to known checkpoints, providing
potentially different mechanisms of action and expanded opportunities
for cancer treatment. Both partners are excited by the potential of the
two programs as they progress towards potential novel therapeutics for
cancer immunotherapy.”
For additional information, please refer to Compugen’s recent Form
6-K filing.
About the Compugen/Bayer HealthCare Agreement
In August 2013, Compugen and Bayer HealthCare entered into a
collaboration and license agreement for the development and
commercialization of antibody-based cancer immune therapeutics against
two novel Compugen-discovered immune checkpoint regulators, CGEN-15022
and CGEN-15001T. Compugen received an upfront payment of $10 million and
is eligible to receive over $500 million in potential milestone payments
for both checkpoint programs, plus an additional $30 million of
potential milestone payments associated with joint preclinical research
for the two programs.
About Cancer Immunotherapy
The latest cancer immunotherapies have demonstrated impressive clinical
benefit, even for end-stage patients with difficult-to-treat tumors such
as metastatic melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Unlike
conventional cancer therapies, which act by directly targeting the
cancer cells, often resulting in only transient clinical responses as
cancer cells become resistant, clinical responses to cancer
immunotherapy tend to be durable, sometimes resulting in dramatic
long-term survival and the absence of resistance or recurrences.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading drug discovery company utilizing its broadly
applicable predictive discovery infrastructure to identify novel drug
targets and develop first-in-class biologics. The Company’s current
pipeline primary focus is on immune checkpoint target candidates
discovered by the Company, potentially providing the basis for a next
wave of therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy. Compugen’s business model
is based on selectively entering into collaborations for its novel
targets and drug product candidates at various stages of research and
development under revenue-sharing agreements. The Company is
headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with R&D facilities in Tel Aviv and
South San Francisco. At the US facilities, monoclonal antibody
therapeutic candidates are discovered and developed against the
Company’s novel target candidates. For additional information, please
visit Compugen's corporate website at www.cgen.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology
such as “will,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” and
“intends,” and describe opinions about future events. These
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of Compugen to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Among these risks: Compugen’s business model
is substantially dependent on entering into collaboration agreements
with third parties and may not be successful in generating revenues, and
the development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates involve
many inherent risks, including failure to progress to clinical trials
or, if they progress to or enter clinical trials, failure to receive
regulatory approval. These and other factors are more fully discussed in
the "Risk Factors" section of Compugen’s most recent Annual Report on
Form 20-F as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well
as other documents that may be subsequently filed by Compugen from time
to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any
forward-looking statements represent Compugen’s views only as of the
date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its
views as of any subsequent date. Compugen does not assume any obligation
to update any forward-looking statements unless required by law.
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