HOLON, Israel, August 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leading predictive drug
discovery company, today disclosed that its LINKS computational
platform, initially designed for the characterization and
differentiation of existing novel drug target candidates, has been
enhanced to include the in silico discovery of new
immuno-oncology drug targets, with a specific focus on the
discovery of myeloid targets within the tumor microenvironment
(TME). LINKS now allows the Company to broaden its existing
repertoire of immune checkpoint targets, which already includes a
few myeloid targets, predicted by algorithms and methodologies
previously developed by the Company. The myeloid targets, now being
experimentally validated by the Company, have the potential to
transform cancer treatment in patients that are non-responsive to
treatments with current checkpoint inhibitors.
This further development of LINKS, a component of the Company's
broad predictive discovery infrastructure, included the integration
of additional public and proprietary data in order to allow the
identification and analysis of specific immune cell types derived
from the TME, and, in particular, myeloid cells. Through the
integration of multiple data types across a range of conditions,
diseases, stimuli and specific myeloid sub-populations, the
enhanced LINKS platform has now demonstrated the capability to
predict new in silico myeloid target candidates that have
potential utility in cancer immunotherapy.
LINKS, first disclosed in June
2015, was originally designed to allow comprehensive
characterization and differentiation of drug target candidates of
various types through the integration and analysis of
multi-dimensional patient data, including genomic, gene expression
and clinical data. The LINKS platform provides disease context and
facilitates association of novel drug targets with specific disease
conditions, clinical attributes, disease-associated
mechanisms-of-action and other key characteristics. The first use
of the platform was to differentiate, prioritize and provide
further information on the novel immune checkpoint target
candidates on T cells or predicted to act on T cells that had
already been discovered by Compugen, which are the primary focus of
the Company's Pipeline Program.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, President
and CEO of Compugen, explained, "Myeloid biology is an emerging and
promising area within the field of immuno-oncology, with only a few
known therapeutic targets. Therefore, we and our scientific
advisors expect that our discovery of additional myeloid targets
will provide opportunities for development of powerful new
immuno-oncology therapeutics for patients with cancers possessing a
strong immune suppressive environment or that are refractory to
available immune checkpoint inhibitors. These opportunities would
include both monotherapy and combination therapy, potentially with
the combined use of our own pipeline candidates, thus providing the
opportunity for multiple differentiated treatment options."
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, "The few myeloid cell target
candidates already in our current therapeutic pipeline were
predicted by us in the past as part of our first focused discovery
effort for B7/CD28 immune checkpoints. With the recently enhanced
LINKS platform, we have already predicted additional myeloid
targets within the tumor microenvironment, which we are currently
experimentally validating. This provides another example of the
unique advantage of having a broadly applicable in silico
target discovery infrastructure which can be quickly enhanced to
focus more deeply on specific areas of interest."
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 Compugen may
not be successful in generating adequate revenues or
commercializing aspects of its business model. Moreover, 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.