TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN)
today announced the appointment of Dr. Felix Karim as Vice President
Corporate & Business Development, effective March 2, 2015. Dr. Karim,
who will be based at Compugen’s South San Francisco facilities, will
report to Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, Compugen’s President and Chief Executive
Officer, and will have direct responsibility for the Company’s business
development strategy and its execution.
Dr. Cohen-Dayag, President and CEO of Compugen, stated, “We are very
pleased to welcome Felix to Compugen’s senior management team. Felix
brings to Compugen substantial experience and accomplishments in a range
of biopharma companies, from start-ups to leading public companies,
initially as a senior scientist and project leader, and later as an
executive with broad responsibilities in both R&D and business
development. We are excited to have the benefit of his experience and
capabilities as we evaluate a number of potential collaboration options
to maximize the value of our attractive early stage target pipeline and
our unique, broadly applicable predictive discovery capabilities.”
Dr. Karim has significant experience in the biopharmaceutical industry
and has held various executive roles in business development and R&D
management. His most recent position prior to joining Compugen was Head
of External R&D (licensing) for the San Francisco region at Amgen.
Before Amgen, Dr. Karim was Vice President of Business Development at
KAI Pharmaceuticals, where he led business development and transaction
activities, including the sale of KAI Pharmaceuticals to Amgen. Dr.
Karim has also held various positions at Exelixis and Celera Genomics,
leading multidisciplinary teams across a broad range of activities in
R&D and program development, and has played an integral role in business
development efforts that resulted in significant pharma partnerships.
Dr. Karim holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University
of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from the Department of Human Genetics
at the University of Utah Medical School.
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 http://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.
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 and include
statements related to potential collaboration options to maximize the
value of Compugen’s attractive early stage target pipeline and its
unique, broadly applicable predictive discovery capabilities. 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 are: changes in
relationships with collaborators; the inability to reach mutually
agreeable terms and conditions with respect to potential new
collaborations; the impact of competitive products and technological
changes; risks relating to the development of new products; and the
ability to implement technological improvements.
These and other factors are 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.