Compugen to Disclose Novel Cancer Immunotherapy Target Candidate & Comprehensive Target Characterization Infrastructure at To...
08 June 2015 - 9:07PM
Business Wire
CGEN-15029 target candidate is one of
Compugen’s five highest priority cancer immunotherapy target
programs
LINKS is a computational infrastructure for
the comprehensive assessment, characterization and differentiation
of target candidates
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leading predictive drug
discovery company, will disclose an additional novel immune
checkpoint target candidate, CGEN-15029, and initial experimental
validation data for this candidate at its Analyst and Investor Day
in New York City today. In addition, the Company will disclose a
new computational infrastructure, LINKS, which is designed for the
comprehensive and comparative assessment of drug targets. Initial
usage of this new infrastructure resulted in the selection of five
target candidates, including CGEN-15029, as the highest priority
immune checkpoint target programs to be advanced by the
Company.
A live webcast of the Analyst and Investor Day event will be
available on the investor section of Compugen’s website beginning
at 9:00 a.m. ET today. An archived replay of the webcast will be
available on the website for 30 days after the event.
Dr. Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of
Compugen, stated, “We are very excited to disclose the initial
validation of this additional novel immune checkpoint candidate,
along with identification of its binding partner. These initial
biological studies provide a better understanding of the mechanism
of action of this candidate and should support a clear path to
therapeutic antibody discovery and development.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, “In addition, the recent development
and application of our LINKS infrastructure provided new insights
into the therapeutic potential of our novel target candidates and
further enhanced our capabilities. Establishing our unique target
discovery capabilities required many years of pioneering
multi-disciplinary research, however, once established, the in
silico discovery of multiple B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint
candidates took only several months. We believe that further
validation and clinical advancement of the multiple target
candidates resulting from the initial usage of our discovery
infrastructure will continue to demonstrate a level of predictive
accuracy that is unprecedented in pharmaceutical research in terms
of the quality and quantity of the candidates.”
CGEN-15029 is one of eleven novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint
candidates discovered by Compugen. Initial validation studies show
that expression of CGEN-15029 in T-cells inhibits their activation
by melanoma cells, consistent with an immune suppressive role of
the target in the tumor microenvironment. The target possesses
signature immune-checkpoint receptor characteristics, including
expression in relevant subsets of T- and NK-cells, with
particularly high expression in lymphocytes that populate the tumor
microenvironment (known as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes or TILs).
A binding partner for CGEN-15029 has also been identified, which
enables a clear path towards selection of inhibitory antibodies and
their therapeutic development.
The LINKS infrastructure is a novel, proprietary, in silico
platform designed to allow comprehensive characterization and
differentiation of drug target candidates. LINKS was designed to
integrate and analyze extremely large amounts of patients’ disease
and clinical data to associate novel drug targets with specific
disease conditions, clinical attributes and disease-associated
mechanisms of action. During the past several months, this new
infrastructure was applied to analyze Compugen’s pipeline of immune
checkpoint target candidates and to compare them to one another as
well as to differentiate them from known immune checkpoints. This
analysis included immune subpopulations, regulatory mechanisms and
cancer-specific immune signatures, and enabled Compugen to compare
and differentiate its large portfolio of novel immune checkpoint
programs, other than the two that are subject to a collaboration
agreement with a pharma partner. Based on this assessment, as well
as experimental data for the target candidates, Compugen selected
five target programs as highest priority, including CGEN-15029,
representing various aspects of cellular immune biology and
therefore potentially addressing multiple therapeutic applications
and indications.
About Immune CheckpointsImmune checkpoints are inhibitory
receptors and their ligands, which are crucial for the maintenance
of self-tolerance (that is, the prevention of autoimmunity) and for
the protection of tissues from damage when the immune system is
responding to pathogenic infection or other injuries. These immune
checkpoints, which are "hijacked" by tumors to block the ability of
the immune system to destroy the tumor (immune resistance), have
emerged as promising targets for cancer immunotherapy, and have
shifted the treatment paradigms for several major cancer
types. Therapeutic blockade of immune checkpoints boost
anti-tumor immunity, enabling the patient’s immune system to
recognize and attack the tumor cells, and mount durable anti-tumor
responses and tumor destruction. Although to date the blockade of
immune checkpoints has proven effective for only a minority of
patients in a limited, but growing number of cancer types, it has
provided impressive clinical benefits, enabling long-term survival,
even for end-stage patients, and is transforming cancer
therapeutics.
About CompugenCompugen is a leading predictive drug
discovery company focused on monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic
proteins to address important unmet needs in the fields of oncology
and immunology. The Company utilizes a broad and continuously
growing integrated infrastructure of proprietary scientific
understandings and predictive platforms, algorithms, machine
learning systems and other computational biology capabilities for
the in silico (by computer) prediction and selection of
novel drug target candidates, which are then advanced in its
Pipeline Program. The discovery and development of monoclonal
antibody therapeutic candidates against selected
Compugen-discovered novel target candidates is performed by
Compugen’s wholly-owned US subsidiary located in South San
Francisco. The Company's business model includes collaborations
covering the further development and commercialization of product
candidates at various stages from its Pipeline Program and various
forms of research and discovery agreements, in both cases providing
Compugen with potential milestone payments and royalties on product
sales or other forms of revenue sharing. For additional
information, please visit Compugen's corporate website at
www.cgen.com.
Forward Looking StatementThis 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,” 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 include: that
Compugen’s business model is substantially dependent on entering
into collaboration agreements with third parties and may not be
successful in generating revenues and that the development and
commercialization of therapeutic products includes many inherent
risks, including 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 as well as other
documents that may be subsequently filed by Compugen from time to
time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150608005681/en/
Compugen Ltd.Tsipi Haitovsky, +972-52-598-9892Global Media
Liaisontsipih@cgen.com
Compugen (NASDAQ:CGEN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Compugen (NASDAQ:CGEN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024