HOLON, Israel, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leading predictive drug
discovery company, announced today that Elliott Sigal, M.D., Ph.D., former Executive
Vice President and Director of Bristol-Myers Squibb, has joined
Compugen Ltd. as a strategic advisor. The Company also announced
that Drew Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D.,
Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology, and Molecular
Biology and Genetics and Director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute
for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at
Johns Hopkins University of Medicine,
and Chairman of Compugen's Scientific Advisory Board, has in
addition joined the Board of Directors of Compugen USA, Inc., Compugen Ltd.'s wholly-owned
antibody discovery and development subsidiary.
When at BMS, Dr. Sigal worked in close partnership with
Professor Pardoll and colleagues at Johns
Hopkins to develop Opdivo (Nivolumab) from its earliest
trials into one of the most important cancer treatments that has
shown activity in many cancer types. Their dual appointment with
Compugen reunites two influential leaders in immuno-oncology.
Dr. Elliott Sigal is a former
Executive Vice President and Director of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and
served as Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D for BMS
from 2004 until 2013. He was a principal architect of BMS'
successful Biopharma Transformation Strategy and was instrumental
in increasing R&D productivity, developing BMS' strategy in
biologics and acquiring external innovation in Bristol's String of
Pearls initiative. Among his accomplishments in various therapeutic
areas was building BMS research into a lead position in the
promising area of immuno-oncology. Under his leadership, fourteen
new medicines for a broad range of therapeutic indications have
come to market, including the major blockbusters Sprycel
(Leukemia), Eliquis (Anticoagulant), Orencia (Rheumatoid Arthritis)
and Yervoy, the first approved immune checkpoint inhibitor for
cancer immunotherapy. In 2012, Dr. Sigal was named the leading
R&D chief in the pharmaceutical industry by Scrip
Intelligence.
Dr. Sigal currently serves as a Venture Partner and Senior
Advisor to the healthcare team of New Enterprise Associates and is
a member of the Board of Directors for the Mead Johnson Nutrition
Company, Spark Therapeutics, Adaptimmune and the Melanoma Research
Alliance. Dr. Sigal received his M.D. from the University of Chicago and trained in Internal
Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior
to medical school he studied engineering at Purdue University, where he received a B.S., M.S.,
and Ph.D.
Prof. Drew Pardoll, the Chairman
of Compugen's Scientific Advisory Board, is the Abeloff Professor
of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology, and Molecular Biology and
Genetics at Johns Hopkins University of
Medicine, and Director of the newly inaugurated Bloomberg~Kimmel
Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer
Center, Johns Hopkins. For the past two
decades, Prof. Pardoll has studied molecular aspects of immune
regulation, particularly related to mechanisms by which cancer
cells evade elimination by the immune system and has made seminal
advances in immunology, including the discovery of new types of
immune cells and regulatory mechanisms. He was the first to propose
blockade of PD-1 for cancer therapy, and his research led the
clinical development of the first anti-PD-1 antibody. Prof. Pardoll
is the inventor of a number of immunotherapies, including cancer
vaccines, and was a scientific founder of Amplimmune Inc. He has
served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute and Cancer Cell, and has been a member of numerous
corporate and other scientific advisory boards. Prof. Pardoll
completed his M.D., Ph.D, Medical Residency and Oncology Fellowship
at Johns Hopkins University.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D.,
President and CEO of Compugen, stated, "I am deeply honored to
announce the addition of Dr. Sigal as a strategic advisor, and the
enhanced involvement of Prof. Pardoll with Compugen. Dr. Sigal and
Prof. Pardoll are well-recognized and highly distinguished leaders
in the field of immuno-oncology, who have accomplished multiple key
scientific, translational and commercial achievements in the
field."
"Compugen is a predictive discovery company, with a primary
focus on identifying novel immune checkpoint target candidates and
developing first-in-class therapeutics against them, thus
potentially creating the next wave of cancer immunotherapies. As we
continue to transform our novel immuno-oncology targets to
therapeutic antibody programs and advance them toward clinical
evaluation, we enthusiastically look forward to benefiting from the
guidance and invaluable experience of Dr. Sigal and Prof. Pardoll,"
added Dr. Cohen-Dayag.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading therapeutic discovery company utilizing
its broadly applicable predictive discovery infrastructure to
identify novel drug targets and develop first-in-class biologics.
The primary focus of the Company's current pipeline 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 target candidates and
drug product candidates at various stages of research and
development under revenue-sharing agreements. The Company is
headquartered in Israel, with
R&D facilities in Israel 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 http://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 or commercializing aspects of our
business model, 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.
Company contact:
Tsipi Haitovsky
Global Media Liaison
Compugen Ltd.
Email: tsipih@cgen.com
Tel: +972-52-598-9892
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.