Compugen Discloses Discovery of Five Potential Cancer Targets for Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapy
December 11 2013 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
ADC target discovery is Company’s second
focused discovery program utilizing its in silico predictive
discovery infrastructure
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) announced today the predictive
discovery and selection of five candidate targets for antibody-drug
conjugate (ADC) cancer therapy. These five potential ADC targets,
representing the initial results from the Company’s second focused
in silico discovery program, are now entering initial experimental
validation to be followed by antibody discovery and development
activities. Initial results are expected during the second half of
2014.
ADC therapy utilizes antibodies to selectively target proteins
on the surface of cancer cells for the delivery of highly toxic
chemicals. This selective delivery is designed to limit the damage
to healthy tissues, thereby reducing the side effects as compared
to chemotherapy. To date, two approved ADC drugs have demonstrated
impressive clinical proof of concept for this exciting new class of
oncology drugs, and there are multiple additional ADC drugs in
clinical development. Therefore, the discovery of target proteins
meeting the requirements for utilizing ADC technology in the
treatment of cancer is an area of high industry interest.
ADC target discovery is Compugen's second focused in silico
discovery program, following the success of its first focused
discovery program for the discovery of immune checkpoint targets
for treatment of cancer and immune diseases. Compugen’s ADC target
discovery program, which was initiated earlier this year, utilizes
the same underlying predictive discovery infrastructure as the
Company’s earlier immune checkpoint program, with the addition of
certain algorithms and other computational capabilities
specifically developed for this effort. In both programs, the
objective is to first identify an appropriate set of proteins with
the support of the Company’s proprietary predictive human proteome,
and then select from this set those proteins predicted to have the
highest probability of meeting each program’s specific
requirements.
More specifically for the ADC program, Compugen’s discovery
infrastructure was expanded by incorporating additional algorithms
that enable prediction of membrane proteins having the potential to
internalize, that are both expressed on cancer cells and have low
expression on healthy cells, in order to allow the ADC drug to
selectively attack the tumor and spare healthy tissues. It was
additionally enhanced to identify targets associated with advanced
cancer stages and poor clinical outcome, in order to provide
potential superior first-in-class treatment to patient populations
with limited therapeutic options.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, Compugen’s President and CEO stated, “As
we continue to invest most of our R&D and commercialization
efforts on activities supporting our current Pipeline Program
product candidates, which are largely based on our immune
checkpoint discoveries, we are pleased to disclose these promising
initial discoveries from our second focused discovery program.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, “Immune checkpoint regulators are
generally considered to be the next frontier in the treatment of
cancer; however, ADCs are recognized as an additional very
promising class of highly potent and selective oncology drugs
providing a different approach to cancer treatment. Therefore, in
view of our successful track record of experimental validation for
molecules selected by our unique predictive discovery
infrastructure, we very much look forward to the potential for
these ADC target candidates to further expand the scope and
diversity of the cancer therapy arm of our pipeline.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag added, “These discoveries demonstrate
significant advantages that our predictive discovery methodology
offers compared with traditional discovery. First, since the
required discovery platform for this program was built through the
enhancement of our existing infrastructure, the total time to date
has been less than a year from initiation of the program.
Furthermore, this enhanced capability will now be available for
future discovery programs. Second, since this second program
utilizes a different basis for selection and prioritization of
results than the first program, it further demonstrates the
applicability of our core predictive infrastructure to multiple
areas of high industry interest. Third, as demonstrated by both
programs, each focused discovery program has the potential to yield
multiple possible novel product candidates.”
About 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 linking the
toxic agent payload to an antibody or antibody fragment that
specifically targets a protein present on the membrane of the
cancer cell. After administration to the patient, the antibody with
the payload specifically binds this membrane protein on the cancer
cell and is then internalized into the cell where the payload is
released and destroys it. Thus, unlike chemotherapies, ADC therapy
is designed to specifically destroy only cells displaying this
protein by targeting the appropriate protein on the cancer cell.
ADCs against a number of targets, both in solid and hematologic
tumors, are in clinical development, with two ADC products gaining
FDA approval in the past two years.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading drug discovery company focused on
therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies to address important
unmet needs in the fields of immunology and oncology. 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 product candidates, which are then advanced in its
Pipeline Program. The Company's business model includes
collaborations covering the further development and
commercialization of selected product candidates 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. In
2012, Compugen established operations in California for the
development of oncology and immunology monoclonal antibody
therapeutic candidates against Compugen drug targets. For
additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate website
at www.cgen.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements, include words such as “may,” “expects,”
“anticipates,” “potential,” “believes,” and “intends,” and describe
opinions about future events. Forward-looking statements in this
press release include, but are not limited to, statements with
respect to the timing of validation of the ADC target candidates;
the potential therapeutic value in cancer therapy for ADC target
candidates discovered by Compugen; and their potential to result in
drug candidates thereby expanding Compugen’s Pipeline Program.
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, 2012 as filed
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.
Compugen Ltd.Tsipi HaitovskyGlobal Media
Liaison+972-52-598-9892tsipih@netvision.net.il
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