HOLON, Israel, May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leading
predictive drug discovery company, announced today that
Steven Holtzman, former Executive
Vice President, Corporate Development of Biogen, has joined
Compugen as a strategic business advisor to the Company.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, Compugen's
President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are excited to
welcome Steven Holtzman, as a
strategic business advisor to the Company. Steve brings a
remarkable breadth of experience on multiple business fronts of the
biotech industry, in which he led numerous successful business
transactions. At Biogen, he created and led its Program Leadership
and Management Group through its prosecution of five new drug
approvals as well as its Business Development and M&A group in
numerous transactions. We look forward to working with Steve and
benefiting from his guidance and experience as we advance toward
our goal of transforming novel immuno-oncology targets into the
next wave of cancer immunotherapies."
Mr. Holtzman has been a leading entrepreneur and executive in
the biotechnology field since the mid-1980's. Most recently he was
the Executive Vice President, Corporate Development of Biogen.
Previously, he served as the founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board
of Directors of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the Chief
Business Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In addition,
Mr. Holtzman was a founder, member of the Board and the Executive
Vice President of DNX Corporation. Currently, he is a member of the
boards of directors of PMV Pharma, Visterra and Molecular Partners.
In the not-for-profit arena, Mr. Holtzman is a Trustee of the
Berklee College of Music, and
previously served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of
the Hastings Center for Ethics and the Life Sciences and as a
Presidential appointee to the US National Bioethics Advisory
Commission. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Michigan State University and his B.Phil. graduate
degree in Philosophy from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes
Scholar.
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 adequate 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.