HOLON, Israel, Nov. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd.
(NASDAQ: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a
leader in predictive target discovery, today announced that a
patent for COM902, the Company's TIGIT therapeutic antibody
candidate, has been issued by the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO) under the USPTO's Cancer Moonshot Pilot
Program providing early examination of patent applications
pertaining to cancer immunotherapy.
The patent, U.S. Patent No. 10,124,061, relates to the method of
using COM902 for activating T cells in cancer patients.
Activating T cells results in stimulating the immune system, and
therefore could be used for cancer immunotherapy treatment. The
patent is expected to expire no earlier than August 2037 in the U.S. for the issued claims.
This patent as well as other patents the Company is pursuing for
COM902 are part of its global patent strategy covering its
innovative immuno-oncology pipeline.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President
and CEO of Compugen, stated, "Developing our own anti-TIGIT
inhibitor is a key element in our combination strategy for COM701,
our lead therapeutic program, currently in Phase 1 clinical
trials, to allow for the combined inhibition of both PVRIG and
TIGIT, the primary components of the DNAM axis. With U.S. patents
granted for both COM701 and COM902, and with the only anti-PVRIG
drug candidate currently available for clinical testing, we have a
first-mover advantage in developing cancer treatments targeting
this foundational axis for cancer immunotherapy."
"We selected COM902 as our therapeutic anti-TIGIT candidate due
to its demonstrated synergistic activity with COM701 and because
our data suggest that it is a potentially best-in-class TIGIT
inhibitor, as it exhibits a higher binding affinity to TIGIT than
other current clinical anti-TIGIT antibodies, while demonstrating
superior preclinical potency," added Dr. Cohen-Dayag.
About COM902
COM902, a fully human antibody targeting
TIGIT, was developed for combination use with COM701. Preclinical
data support that inhibiting TIGIT alone, or in combination only
with PD-1 blockade, will not generate a sufficient anti-tumor
immune response in broad patient subpopulations. Rather, the data
demonstrate that combined inhibition of both PVRIG and TIGIT, the
two coinhibitory arms of the DNAM axis, is synergistic for T cell
activation, tumor growth inhibition and anti-tumor activity in
various model systems, and therefore may result in an enhanced
clinical anti-tumor immune response.
The company expects to initiate Phase 1 clinical trials for
COM902 in 2019.
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 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: +1-212-213-0006
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/compugen-announces-issuance-of-us-patent-for-com902-its-tigit-antibody-product-candidate-for-cancer-immunotherapy-300749092.html
SOURCE Compugen Ltd.