- On track to deliver initial findings from studies with the
triple blockade of PVRIG, TIGIT and PD-1 in patients with MSS CRC
and platinum resistant ovarian cancer by end of 2023
- New pre-clinical data presented at CIMT for COM503, a high
affinity anti-IL-18BP antibody approach differentiated from
cytokine therapeutic approaches
- Cash balance of $74.3 million
with runway through potential key milestones expected into at least
end of 2024
- Company hosting DNAM-1 axis virtual investor event with KOL
Drew Pardoll on Tuesday, May 23, 2023
at 12pm ET, registration on company
website
HOLON, Israel, May 15, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN) (TASE: CGEN) a
clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a pioneer in
computational target discovery, today announced financial
results for the first quarter ended March
31, 2023 and provided a corporate update on key events since
the start of 2023.
"I am excited that we are leading the way with a unique triple
combination immuno-oncology approach with potential to be the next
generation of immunotherapies in a very large market with high
unmet need", said Anat Cohen-Dayag,
Ph.D., President, and Chief Executive Officer of Compugen. "We have
already shown preliminary clinical benefit in two tumor types,
typically not responding to immunotherapy, microsatellite stable
colorectal cancer and platinum resistant ovarian cancer. To confirm
this signal, we have initiated two proof-of-concept studies
evaluating the triple blockade of PVRIG, TIGIT and PD-1 with
COM701, COM902 and pembrolizumab in these indications and are on
track to report initial findings by the end of the year. We believe
this strategy provides the fastest route in building a path to
registration and de-risk our lead assets, COM701 and COM902."
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, "We continue to feed our own pipeline
by leveraging our pioneering computational discovery platform. We
presented new data on our lead pre-clinical asset, COM503, in an
oral presentation at the recent CIMT annual meeting. COM503 is a
differentiated, novel anti-IL-18BP antibody based approach to
harness cytokine biology for anti-cancer therapeutics. By freeing
the body's own interleukin-18 to stimulate the immune system to
fight cancer at the tumor site, COM503 has the potential advantage
of avoiding the typical systemic toxicity associated with cytokine
therapeutics".
Dr. Cohen-Dayag concluded, "We are driven by our strong belief
in the potential of our differentiated assets, internal and
partnered, and the opportunity to transform the lives of patients
with cancer. Our $74.3 million cash
balance as of March 31, 2023
re-affirms our financial discipline, with bold execution on our
DNAM-1 axis hypothesis and our newly disclosed lead pre-clinical
asset advancing towards IND submission next year. We have cash
runway at least through the end of 2024, to support operations,
reach milestones and de-risk our lead clinical assets, COM701 and
COM902."
Financial Results
As of March 31, 2023, cash, cash
equivalents, short-term bank deposits and restricted cash totalled
approximately $74.3 million, compared
with approximately $83.7 million as
of December 31, 2022. The Company
expects its existing cash and cash related balances to be
sufficient to fund its operations at least through the end of 2024,
based on its current plans.
Compugen does not have any debt.
R&D expenses for the first quarter of 2023, were
approximately $7.4 million compared
with approximately $7.2 million for
the comparable period in 2022.
General and administrative expenses for the first quarter of
2023, were approximately $2.6
million, compared with approximately $2.6 million for the comparable period in
2022.
Net loss for the first quarter of 2023, was approximately
$9.3 million, or $0.11 per basic and diluted share, compared with
a net loss of approximately $9.7
million, or $0.11 per basic
and diluted share, in the first quarter of 2022.
Full financial tables are included below.
Conference call and webcast information
The Company will hold a conference call today, May 15, 2023, at 8:30 AM
ET to review its first quarter 2023 results. To access the
live conference call by telephone, please dial 1-866-744-5399 from
the U.S., or +972-3-918-0644 internationally. The call will be
available via live webcast through Compugen's website, located at
the following link. Following the live webcast, a replay will be
available on the Company's website.
About Compugen
Compugen is a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery and
development company utilizing its broadly applicable predictive
computational discovery capabilities to identify new drug targets
and biological pathways for developing cancer
immunotherapies. Compugen has developed two proprietary
product candidates: COM701, a potential first-in-class anti-PVRIG
antibody and COM902, a potential best-in-class antibody
targeting TIGIT for the treatment of solid tumors. Compugen also
has a clinical stage partnered program, rilvegostomig (previously
AZD2936), a PD-1/TIGIT bi-specific derived from COM902, in Phase 2
development by AstraZeneca through a license agreement for the
development of bi-specific and multi-specific antibodies. In
addition, the Company's therapeutic pipeline of
early-stage immuno-oncology programs consists of programs
aiming to address various mechanisms of immune resistance. The most
advanced program, COM503 is in IND enabling studies. COM503 is
a potential first-in-class, high affinity antibody which blocks the
interaction between IL-18 binding protein and IL-18, thereby
freeing natural IL-18 to inhibit cancer growth in the tumor
microenvironment. Compugen is headquartered in Israel, with offices in San Francisco, CA. Compugen's shares
are listed on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbol CGEN.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe-harbor provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs,
expectations, and assumptions of Compugen. Forward-looking
statements can be identified using terminology such as "will,"
"may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "potential," "plan,"
"goal," "estimate," "likely," "should," "confident," and "intends,"
and similar expressions that are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
the unique triple combination immuno-oncology approach having the
potential to be the next generation of immunotherapies in a very
large market with high unmet need; our belief that the triple
blockade of PVRIG, TIGIT and PD-1 with COM701, COM902 might have
clinical benefit in two tumor types, typically not responding to
immunotherapy, microsatellite stable colorectal cancer and platinum
resistant ovarian cancer; our belief that our strategy provides the
fastest route in building a path to registration and de-risk our
lead assets, COM701 and COM902; our belief that COM503 has the
potential advantage of avoiding the typical systemic toxicity
associated with cytokine therapeutics; and our expectation that our
existing cash and cash related balances will be sufficient to
support our operations, reach milestones and de-risk our lead
assets COM701 and COM902 at least through the end of 2024, based on
our current plans. 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: In the near term, Compugen is highly dependent on the
success of COM701 and of COM902; Compugen may not be able to
advance its internal clinical stage programs through clinical
development or manufacturing or successfully partner or
commercialize them, or obtain marketing approval, either alone or
with a collaborator, or may experience significant delays in doing
so; Clinical development involves a lengthy and expensive process,
with an uncertain outcome and Compugen may encounter substantial
delays or even an inability to begin clinical trials for any
specific product or may not be able to conduct or complete its
trials on the timelines it expects; Compugen has limited experience
in the development of therapeutic product candidates, and it may be
unable to implement its business strategy. These risks and other
risks 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.
COMPUGEN
LTD.
|
CONDENSED
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
|
(U.S. dollars in
thousands, except for share and per share amounts)
|
|
|
Three Months
Ended
|
|
|
|
March
31,
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
Unaudited
|
|
Unaudited
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating
expenses
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and
development expenses
|
7,445
|
|
7,170
|
|
|
Marketing and business
development expenses
|
116
|
|
223
|
|
|
General and
administrative expenses
|
2,573
|
|
2,603
|
|
|
Total operating
expenses
|
10,134
|
|
9,996
|
|
|
Financial and other
income, net
|
808
|
|
286
|
|
|
Loss before taxes on
income
|
(9,326)
|
|
(9,710)
|
|
|
Taxes on
income
|
13
|
|
-
|
|
|
Net
loss
|
(9,339)
|
|
(9,710)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic and diluted net
loss per ordinary share
|
(0.11)
|
|
(0.11)
|
|
|
Weighted average number
of ordinary shares used
in computing basic and diluted net loss per share
|
86,624,643
|
|
86,454,510
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
COMPUGEN
LTD.
|
CONDENSED
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS DATA
|
(U.S. dollars, in
thousands)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March
31,
|
|
December
31,
|
|
|
2023
|
|
2022
|
|
|
Unaudited
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSETS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current
assets
|
|
|
|
|
Cash, cash equivalents,
short-term bank deposits and restricted cash
|
74,318
|
|
83,708
|
|
Other accounts
receivable and prepaid expenses
|
2,123
|
|
2,417
|
|
Total current
assets
|
76,441
|
|
86,125
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-current
assets
|
|
|
|
|
Long-term prepaid
expenses
|
1,908
|
|
1,899
|
|
Severance pay
fund
|
2,762
|
|
2,794
|
|
Operating lease right
to use asset
|
1,749
|
|
1,826
|
|
Property and equipment,
net
|
1,459
|
|
1,532
|
|
Total non-current
assets
|
7,878
|
|
8,051
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
assets
|
84,319
|
|
94,176
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIABILITIES
AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current
liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Other accounts payable,
accrued expenses and trade payables
|
10,102
|
|
10,981
|
|
Current maturity of
operating lease liability
|
617
|
|
613
|
|
Short-term deferred
participation in R&D expenses
|
-
|
|
325
|
|
Total current
liabilities
|
10,719
|
|
11,919
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-current
liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Long-term operating
lease liability
|
1,172
|
|
1,312
|
|
Accrued severance
pay
|
3,214
|
|
3,265
|
|
Total non-current
liabilities
|
4,386
|
|
4,577
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total shareholders'
equity
|
69,214
|
|
77,680
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities
and shareholders' equity
|
84,319
|
|
94,176
|
|
Investor Relations contact:
Yvonne Naughton, Ph.D.
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Compugen
Ltd.
Email: ir@cgen.com
Tel: +1 (628) 241-0071
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/compugen-reports-first-quarter-2023-results-301824363.html
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.