HOLON, Israel, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd.
(NASDAQ: CGEN), a leader in predictive discovery and development of
first-in-class therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy, disclosed new
data demonstrating the potential of CGEN-15032 as a target for the
development of first-in-class cancer therapy. CGEN-15032 is a novel
myeloid and epithelial immuno-oncology target, which may serve as
an immuno-suppressive target within the tumor microenvironment.
Addressing the immuno-suppressive environment of the tumor through
myeloid drug targets has the potential for developing treatments
that may expand the patient population responsive to current
treatments.
The data, demonstrating the target's immunomodulatory effect and
its effect on tumor growth, were generated as part of the research
collaboration with the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine (JHU), under the direction of
Prof. Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD,
Director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
at Johns Hopkins and Chairman of
Compugen's Scientific Advisory Board.
Compugen also announced today the extension of its multi-year
immuno-oncology research collaboration with JHU. The research
collaboration, originally announced in December 2014 is now expanded to include new
additional targets discovered by Compugen which have the potential
to serve as a basis for the development of cancer immunotherapy
treatments. This highly valuable collaborative research provides
ongoing assessment of the biology and mechanisms of action of
Compugen's novel immune checkpoint proteins and expedites their
expected translation towards the clinic.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President
and CEO of Compugen said, "The data we achieved with CGEN-15032,
together with JHU exemplifies the tremendous value of our
collaboration, providing us with access to world-class
immuno-oncology knowledge and expertise to successfully develop our
immuno-oncology programs, and accelerate their path towards future
human testing."
CGEN-15032 was discovered by the Company's immune checkpoint
discovery platform, which also served as the cornerstone for the
identification of TIGIT and PVRIG – two novel immune checkpoints
which are currently in preclinical development by Compugen. Tumor
growth in CGEN-15032-deficient mice (knock-out mice) is reduced
relative to wild-type mice, and treatment of CGEN-15032-deficient
mice with an anti-PD-L1 antibody further reduced tumor growth as
compared with anti-PD-L1 treated wild-type mice. Together, these
data suggest that CGEN-15032 may serve as an immuno-suppressive
component of the tumor microenvironment, and that drugs inhibiting
CGEN-15032 either alone or in combination with checkpoint
inhibitors may activate anti-cancer immune responses.
CGEN-15032 was the subject of both an oral and a poster
presentation at the 3rd annual CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR
International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference, in
Mainz/Frankfurt, Germany. The
poster is available on the Publications page of Compugen's
website.
About Compugen
Compugen is a 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 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 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,"
"plan," "goal," "estimate," "likely," "should," 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:
Elana
Holzman
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Compugen Ltd.
E-mail: elanah@cgen.com
Tel: +972(3)765-8124
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SOURCE Compugen Ltd.