TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:
CGEN) announced today positive initial experimental results for the
first two of five in silico predicted targets for antibody drug
conjugate (ADC) cancer therapy disclosed in late 2013. The two
candidates demonstrate low expression levels in normal critical tissues,
such as heart and liver, and higher expression in multiple cancer types,
such as colorectal and prostate cancers, for which there is high unmet
medical need. These results suggest that the two target candidates may
serve for the development of ADC therapy in oncology. Initial validation
of the remaining three candidates, and further testing of these two, is
ongoing. It is expected that a therapeutic antibody discovery program
against a selected ADC target will commence later this year.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, Compugen’s President and CEO, stated, “As
previously disclosed, most of our R&D and commercialization efforts are
now being directed towards immuno-oncology related activities supporting
our immune checkpoint based candidates for immunotherapy. As these very
promising candidates based on our first discovery program move ahead, we
look forward to further broadening the scope and diversity of our
Pipeline Program with therapeutic antibodies against ADC targets
resulting from our second discovery program. We therefore are very
pleased to report these initial positive experimental results in this
additional area of high industry interest, supporting the therapeutic
potential of these first two target candidates and further demonstrating
the unique capabilities of our broadly applicable predictive discovery
infrastructure.”
About Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) cancer therapy
ADC cancer therapy destroys cancer cells by delivering high-potency
cytotoxic agents (the “payload”) directly to the cancer cells. The
principle underlying ADC therapy is to impact only the cancer cells by
linking the cytotoxic agent payload to an antibody or antibody fragment
that specifically binds to a protein that is present on cancer cells and
expressed at lower levels in healthy cells. When administered to the
patient, the antibody with the payload specifically targets this
protein, and is internalized into the cells, where the toxic payload is
released and activated. Thus, unlike traditional chemotherapies, ADCs
are designed to specifically destroy only cells displaying the cancer
target protein. ADCs against a number of targets, both in solid and
hematologic tumors, are in clinical development by biopharma companies,
and two ADC products have obtained FDA regulatory approval in the past
two years.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading drug discovery company focused on monoclonal
antibodies and therapeutic proteins to address important unmet needs in
the fields of oncology and immunology. The Company utilizes a broad and
continuously growing integrated infrastructure of proprietary scientific
understandings and predictive platforms, algorithms, machine learning
systems and other computational biology capabilities for the in
silico (by computer) prediction and selection of novel drug target
candidates, which are then advanced in its Pipeline Program. The
discovery and development of monoclonal antibody therapeutic candidates
against selected Compugen-discovered novel target candidates is
performed by Compugen’s wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary located in South
San Francisco. The Company's business model includes collaborations
covering the further development and commercialization of product
candidates at various stages from its Pipeline Program and various forms
of research and discovery agreements, in both cases providing Compugen
with potential milestone payments and royalties on product sales or
other forms of revenue sharing. For additional information, please visit
Compugen's corporate website at www.cgen.com.
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements relating to the ADC target candidates predicted by
Compugen serving for the development of ADC therapy in oncology; the
broadening of the scope and diversity of the Company’s Pipeline Program
with therapeutic antibodies against ADC targets and in particular the
commencement of a therapeutic antibody discovery program against a
selected ADC target during 2015. Forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of terminology such as “may,” “expectations,”
“approximately,” “further” and “potential” 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. Some of these risks and other factors
are discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Compugen’s Annual Report
on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2013 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.