Compugen Planning Proof of Concept Human Trial for Breast Cancer Drug Candidate in 2009
16 July 2008 - 9:00PM
Business Wire
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN) announced today that it has begun the
planning for a proof of concept human trial for breast cancer
therapy in 2009 for CGEN-50001, a known central nervous system
(�CNS�) drug. In recently completed in vitro and in vivo validation
studies, co-administration of CGEN-50001 was shown to significantly
increase the effect of Tamoxifen, a frequently used drug for the
treatment of estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer. This
previously unknown action of CGEN-5001 was initially predicted in
silico by Compugen�s New Indications Discovery Platform. Compugen
has filed a patent for this usage. In an accepted xenograft mice
model of breast cancer, a greater reduction in tumor size was
demonstrated when Tamoxifen was used in combination with
CGEN-50001, in comparison with Tamoxifen alone. In addition,
CGEN-50001 appeared to induce cancer cell death and an
anti-proliferative effect in ER positive and negative breast cancer
cell-lines with a greater effect on ER positive breast cancer
cells. Although these validation studies were performed only with
Tamoxifen, the same results have been predicted to likely occur
with other drugs impacting the same pathway. CGEN-50001 is a small
molecule drug which has been used in the clinic for many years for
CNS related indications and has a well established safety profile.
In Compugen�s initial usage of its previously announced New
Indications Discovery Platform, it was predicted that CGEN-50001
would likely strengthen the effect of anti-breast cancer drugs
which target the estrogen receptor, such as Tamoxifen. Yossi Cohen,
M.D., Vice President for R&D, said, �Breast cancer is by far
the most common cancer amongst women and therefore has been for
many years the target of extensive research. The idea that an
existing drug now used for completely unrelated medical conditions
might prove of significant benefit for some types or stages of
breast cancer is of course extremely exciting. In addition, the
results to date for CGEN-50001 further validate the predictive
power of our New Indications Discovery Platform which enables
linking new therapeutic applications for drugs in the market or in
development. We are currently evaluating moving forward with
validation studies for additional drugs with potential new
indications as predicted by this powerful discovery platform.�
Martin Gerstel, Chairman of Compugen, stated, �The wide diversity
and growing validation of our initial drug and diagnostic discovery
platforms continue to demonstrate the value of Compugen�s decade
long commitment to pioneering predictive understandings of life at
the molecular level. Based on the capabilities resulting from this
commitment -- in terms of deeper scientific understandings and
predictive models, algorithms and other computational biology
tools, and a truly unique R&D team -- these platforms are now
resulting in a rapidly increasing intellectual property portfolio
of drug and diagnostic product candidates.� About Compugen�s New
Indications Discovery Platform This recently disclosed discovery
platform relies on Compugen�s MED infrastructure platform and other
in-silico discovery algorithms. The platform enables the
integration and subsequent querying of data of multiple types and
sources and is designed to lead to the in silico identification of
those drugs predicted to have new indications from amongst all
available drugs either in commercial use or undergoing clinical
trials. Included in this integrated analysis are large amounts of
experimental information and raw data from multiple gene, protein,
drug and disease related sources. These include gene expression
from tens of thousands of human chip experiments, known or
predicted protein networks, gene regulation data, known or
predicted associations between genes and pathologies and other
experimental results. About Compugen Compugen�s mission is to be
the world leader in the discovery and licensing of product
candidates to the drug and diagnostic industries under milestone
and revenue sharing agreements. The Company�s increasing inventory
of powerful and proprietary discovery platforms is enabling the
predictive discovery, field after field, of numerous therapeutic
and diagnostic product candidates. These discovery platforms are
based on the Company�s decade-long focus on the predictive
understanding of important biological phenomena at the molecular
level. Compugen�s current collaborations include Biosite, Medarex,
Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (a Johnson
& Johnson company), Roche, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics,
Inc., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. In 2002, Compugen
established an affiliate, Evogene Ltd. (TASE:EVGN.TA), to utilize
the Company�s in-silico predictive discovery capabilities in the
agricultural biotechnology field. For additional information,
please visit Compugen's corporate Website at www.cgen.com and
Evogene�s corporate Website at www.evogene.com. This press release
may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
include words such as �may�, �expects�, �anticipates�, �believes�,
and �intends�, and describe opinions about 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. Some of these risks are: changes in
relationships with collaborators; the impact of competitive
products and technological changes; risks relating to the
development of new products; and the ability to implement
technological improvements. These and other factors are identified
and more fully explained under the heading "Risk Factors" in
Compugen's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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