HOLON, Israel, Sept. 20,
2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq:
CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and leader
in predictive target discovery, was informed that Bayer AG dosed
the first patient in the Phase 1 clinical trial of BAY 1905254, a
first-in-class immuno-oncology therapeutic antibody targeting the
ILDR2 protein, in patients with advanced solid tumors. Under
the terms of the collaboration and license agreement, Compugen is
entitled to a milestone payment of $7.8
million at first patient dosing. ILDR2 is a new immune
checkpoint protein identified by Compugen using its predictive
target discovery platform.
"ILDR2 was one of the first immune checkpoint targets discovered
through our discovery platforms and the first to enter into a
R&D collaboration and license agreement with a pharma partner,"
stated Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD,
President and CEO of Compugen. "Bayer has been an outstanding
partner and we greatly appreciate their excellent R&D team and
commitment to advancing this program to the clinic."
"BAY 1905254 and our internally-developed COM701 are the first
drug candidates to enter Phase 1 trials addressing new drug targets
discovered computationally by Compugen. This represents a
breakthrough achievement for Compugen and proof-of-concept of the
power of our computational discovery capabilities. We hope that
each of these drug candidates will become a life changing treatment
option for patients unresponsive to existing cancer
immunotherapies," Dr. Cohen-Dayag added.
About ILDR2 and BAY 1905254
ILDR2 is a novel
B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target discovered computationally by
Compugen. Preclinical studies demonstrated inhibitory effects of
ILDR2 on T cells, consistent with it being an immune checkpoint
ligand. Additional expression and functional studies suggest
that ILDR2 acts as an inhibitor of the priming step of T cell
activation, thereby muting T cell response to cancer.
BAY 1905254 is a fully human antibody that blocks the
immunosuppressive activity of ILDR2. BAY 1905254 exhibits
anti-tumor activity as a monotherapy in various mouse models, and
also demonstrates additive anti-tumor effects in combination with
other cancer therapy approaches in those models, indicating the
possibility for multiple combination uses in cancer
immunotherapy.
About Compugen
Compugen is a clinical-stage,
therapeutic discovery and development company utilizing its broadly
applicable predictive discovery infrastructure to identify novel
drug targets and develop first-in-class therapeutics in the field
of cancer immunotherapy. The Company's therapeutic pipeline
consists of immuno-oncology programs against novel drug targets it
has discovered, including T cell immune checkpoints and myeloid
target programs. Compugen's business model is to selectively enter
into collaborations for its novel targets and related drug product
candidates at various stages of research and development. The
Company is headquartered in Israel
with R&D facilities in both Israel and South San
Francisco, CA. Compugen's ordinary shares are listed on
Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol
CGEN. For additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate
website at 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,"
"plan," "goal," "estimate," "likely," "should," "confident," 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, including the ability to finance the
Company, 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:
Elana
Holzman
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Compugen Ltd.
Email: elanah@cgen.com
Tel: +972 (3) 765-8124
Investor Relations contact:
Burns McClellan, Inc.
Jill Steier
Email: jsteier@burnsmc.com
Tel: 212-213-0006
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/compugen-announces-clinical-milestone-payment-in-cancer-immunotherapy-collaboration-with-bayer-following-dosing-of-first-patient-in-bay-1905254-phase-1-trial-300716003.html
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.