HOLON, Israel, April 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leader in predictive discovery
and development of first-in-class therapeutics for cancer
immunotherapy, today announced it entered into an exclusive license
agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and
development arm of AstraZeneca, to enable the development of
bi-specific and multi-specific immuno-oncology antibody
products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Compugen will provide an
exclusive license to MedImmune for the development of bi-specific
and multi-specific antibody products derived from a Compugen
pipeline program. MedImmune has the right to create multiple
products under this license and will be solely responsible for all
research, development and commercial activities under the
agreement. Compugen will receive a $10
million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to
$200 million in development,
regulatory and commercial milestones for the first product as well
as tiered royalties on future product sales. If additional products
are developed, additional milestones and royalties would be due to
Compugen. Compugen will retain all other rights to its entire
pipeline of programs as monotherapies and in combination with other
products.
"We are excited to announce our agreement with MedImmune, a
global leader in the development of antibody-based oncology
therapeutics," said Anat
Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President and CEO of Compugen. "This
licensing deal allows us to monetize specific scientific advances
in our programs, while we continue to advance our lead programs
into clinical trials." Dr. Cohen-Dayag added, "We are committed to
our strategy of selectively collaborating with biopharmaceutical
companies for the development of first-in-class products against
our diverse, computationally-derived portfolio of targets."
"This agreement with Compugen will support our abilities to
generate novel immunotherapy targets which, coupled with
MedImmune's expertise in antibody engineering, can advance our goal
of delivering treatments to meaningfully improve the lives of
cancer patients," said Ronald
Herbst, Vice President, Oncology Research & Development,
MedImmune.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
Compugen management will host a conference call today,
April 2, 2018, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the license agreement. To
access the live conference call by telephone, please dial
1-800-994-4498 from the U.S. or +972-3-918-0608 internationally.
The conference call will also be available via live webcast through
Compugen's website, located at the following link. Following the
live audio webcast, a replay will be available on the Company's
website.
About Bi-Specific and Multi-Specific Products
Antibodies are naturally occurring components of the immune
system that bind specifically to a target protein via two identical
arms. Through genetic engineering, antibodies can be modified to
bind to different proteins through the two separate arms by
exchanging one arm with that of another antibody with a different
target specificity (bi-specific antibodies). Alternatively,
additional features can be engineered into an antibody to allow
binding to three or more target proteins simultaneously
(multi-specific antibodies). These engineered forms of antibodies
are increasingly being developed as therapeutics, as they enable
multiple mechanisms of action for treating disease within a single
molecule.
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," "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: the potential development and commercialization of
antibody-based cancer immunotherapies related to a
Compugen-discovered pipeline program, potential milestone and
royalty payments, 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 or delay
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: +1-212-213-0006
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.