HOLON, Israel, March 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a therapeutic discovery company,
announced today that abstracts highlighting CGEN-15001, the
Company's autoimmune product candidate, have been accepted for
presentation at Keystone Symposia and IMMUNOLOGY
2017TM.
Keystone Symposia: Immune Regulation in Autoimmunity and Cancer
(D1)
March 26-30, 2017, Whistler, British Columbia
Poster 2001:
Tuesday, March 28, 7:30-10:00 pm PT, poster presentation
IMMUNOLOGY 2017
May 12-16, 2017, Washington, DC
Abstract 503:
Sunday, May 14, 10:15 - 10:30 am ET, podium presentation
Monday, May 15, 2:30 - 3:45 pm ET, poster presentation
Following the presentation, posters will be available on
Compugen's website at http://www.cgen.com.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., CEO and
President of Compugen, stated, "With a large portion of the
autoimmune patients failing to respond to existing standard of care
treatments, and established franchises under threat of generic
erosion, there is significantly increased interest by the industry
in innovative approaches to treat autoimmune diseases."
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, "CGEN-15001 has demonstrated the
potential in preclinical studies to restore immune homeostasis and
to avoid the global immune suppression generated by other
therapeutic agents, thus potentially leading to tolerance induction
and a durable therapeutic response in autoimmune conditions.
Tolerance induction represents a paradigm shift in the treatment of
multiple autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis,
multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes. Therefore, CGEN-15001, as
a potential first-in-class immune tolerance-inducing agent, is
gaining increased industry interest. We have recently disclosed
that CGEN-15001 is one of our four program areas of business
development focus for potential industry collaborations."
About CGEN-15001
CGEN-15001 is an Fc fusion protein drug candidate for autoimmune
diseases, consisting of the fusion of the extracellular region of
CGEN-15001T to an IgG Fc domain. CGEN-15001T is a novel immune
checkpoint discovered by Compugen using its broadly applicable
predictive discovery infrastructure. CGEN-15001 was previously
shown to be effective in treating several autoimmune diseases in
animal models, including models of multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid
arthritis, type 1 diabetes and psoriasis. In some of these models,
a short period of treatment with CGEN-15001 was shown to induce a
durable long-term response suggestive of an immune tolerance
mechanism. Additional studies demonstrated that CGEN-15001 has an
immuno-modulatory function manifested in attenuating inflammatory
responses and promoting regulatory and anti-inflammatory
activities, including the differentiation of regulatory T cells
(Tregs), a population of immune cells that plays a pivotal role in
induction and maintenance of immune tolerance. Importantly, the
long-term therapeutic effect of CGEN-15001 appears to be associated
with its ability to enhance the differentiation of Tregs.
About Immune Tolerance
Immune tolerance is the normal healthy state in which the immune
system is programmed to avoid attacking the body's own cells and
tissues. Improper immune tolerance characterizes both cancer and
autoimmunity. While in cancer the therapeutic goal is to break
immune tolerance towards tumor antigens and thereby unleash the
immune system to attack the tumor cells, in autoimmunity the goal
is to restore immune tolerance towards the body's healthy cells and
thereby protect such cells from an immune attack.
In autoimmunity, the immune system mistakenly identifies the
body's own cells or tissues as foreign invaders, due to breach of
self-tolerance, leading to various autoimmune diseases such as
multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, or
psoriasis. Reprogramming the immune system to restore tolerance and
re-establish homeostasis can lead to a sustained resolution of
autoimmunity and disease remission. In contrast, current
therapeutic approaches that rely on suppressing the immune system
can compromise its capacity to fight infectious diseases and
malignancies, leading to the potential of severe side effects.
Therefore, induction and maintenance of immune tolerance is widely
recognized as a key unmet need in the treatment of autoimmune
diseases.
Targeting immune checkpoints to restore immune tolerance in
autoimmunity is a promising approach anticipated to bring a
paradigm shift in the treatment of autoimmunity similar to advances
now being made by immune checkpoint-based therapies in
immuno-oncology.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading therapeutic discovery company whose
mission is to utilize its broadly applicable predictive discovery
infrastructure to discover novel drug targets and develop
first-in-class therapeutics. Our current pipeline consists of early
and preclinical stage immuno-oncology programs based on novel drug
targets discovered internally, primarily immune checkpoint and
myeloid protein target candidates. These programs focus on the
development of first-in-class cancer immunotherapy drugs with the
potential to harness the immune system to provide treatment
solutions in areas of unmet medical need in various cancer types
and patient populations, both as monotherapy and in combination
with other drugs. In addition, our pipeline currently includes a
preclinical fusion protein autoimmune product candidate. Compugen's
business model is based on selectively entering into collaborations
for its novel target candidates and related 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, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are discovered
and developed against the Company's novel drug 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," "potential," and "intends," and describe opinions about
possible 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 (SEC) as well as other documents that may be
subsequently filed by Compugen from time to time with the SEC. 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:
Susanna Chau
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Compugen
Email: susannac@cgen.com
Tel: +1(650)263-7001
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.