Compugen Licenses Novel Oncology Target to Seattle Genetics
October 29 2010 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) announced today that it has signed
a research collaboration agreement with Seattle Genetics, Inc.,
USA, covering a Compugen-discovered oncology target. The agreement
provides Seattle Genetics with an initial evaluation period and an
option for an exclusive worldwide milestone and royalty bearing
license for development and commercialization of monoclonal
antibody therapeutics addressing this novel target. The existence
of the target, which is a previously unknown splice variant of a
known oncology target, was initially predicted in silico through
the use of Compugen’s Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Targets Discovery
Platform. The predicted molecule’s existence and overexpression in
several of the most prevalent solid cancers was recently
demonstrated in independent experimentally based studies.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, president & CEO of Compugen, stated,
“We are very enthusiastic about this new collaboration, our first
with Seattle Genetics, a leading company in the rapidly growing
field of monoclonal antibodies and antibody drug conjugates. The
Compugen novel target that is the subject of this agreement has
shown potential in a number of important unmet areas of cancer
treatment.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, “We also are pleased to see the
continuing and growing interest of the industry with respect to our
mAb Targets Discovery Platform. This unique capability, which
addresses the key unmet market need in the rapidly growing antibody
therapeutic field, is now serving as both the source of targets for
collaborations, such as the one being announced today and our
ongoing collaboration with Bayer Schering Pharma, and also to
predict and select, in combination with other Compugen tools and
capabilities, an inventory of potential targets for further
internal development under the new program disclosed earlier this
week in our quarterly press release.”
Martin Gerstel, Compugen’s chairman, added, “As described in the
quarterly release, our business model provides three potential
pathways for development and commercialization of our product
candidate discoveries. Collaborations can be entered into before
our prediction and selection of candidates is undertaken pursuant
to ‘discovery on demand’ agreements, or with respect to existing
Compugen product candidates, collaborations can be initiated prior
to or at the proof of concept stage, or after additional
preclinical activities have been undertaken by us. In all cases
these agreements provide Compugen with potential milestone payments
and royalties on product sales or other revenue sharing
arrangements. The decision as to which pathway we choose in each
specific case will depend on many factors, such as proprietary
knowledge or technology of a potential partner that could expedite
and increase the probability of success of development or
commercialization; the anticipated overall relationship with the
potential partner; our assessment of the risk/reward profile of
further development by us; and available financial terms at each
point in time.”
About Compugen’s Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) Targets Discovery
Platform
Compugen’s mAb Targets Discovery Platform relies heavily on
Compugen’s LEADS and MED capabilities, two computational biology
infrastructure platforms that serve as core components for the
development of Compugen’s discovery platforms. The LEADS platform
provides a comprehensive view of the human transcriptome, proteome,
and peptidome and serves as a rich infrastructure for the discovery
of novel genes, transcripts and proteins. It includes extensive
gene information and annotation, such as: splice variants,
antisense genes, SNPs, novel genes, RNA editing, etc. At the
protein level, LEADS provides full protein annotation, including
homologies, domain information, subcellular localization, peptide
prediction, and novelty status. The MED Platform is an integrated
database composed of the results from more than 40,000 public and
proprietary microarray experiments, normalized and organized into
approximately 1,400 therapeutically relevant conditions (i.e.
normal tissues, malignant tissues, tissues from drug treated
patients, etc.). Utilizing a sophisticated query interface, the
proprietary MED platform allows the simultaneous examination of the
expression of genes and pathways across all 1,400 conditions and
tissues as well as all 40,000 microarray experiments.
In addition to incorporating MED and LEADS, the mAb Targets
Discovery Platform utilizes multiple data sources and algorithms to
predict a large number of novel membrane proteins that can serve as
targets for antibody therapeutics, such as for various cancers and
autoimmune diseases. The selection of appropriate candidates from
this large body of predicted membrane proteins is accomplished
using sub-modules of algorithms and other computational tools
developed specifically for each disease state or protein
family.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading drug and diagnostic product candidate
discovery company. Unlike traditional high throughput trial and
error experimental based discovery, Compugen’s discovery efforts
are based on in silico (by computer) product candidate prediction
and selection utilizing a broad and continuously growing
infrastructure of proprietary scientific understandings and
predictive platforms, algorithms, machine learning systems and
other computational biology tools to address important unmet
therapeutic and diagnostic needs - either for Compugen or its
partners. Compugen’s growing number of collaborations covering the
further development and commercialization of Compugen discovered
product candidates all provide Compugen with potential
milestone payments and royalties on product sales or other forms of
revenue sharing. These collaborations may be entered into before
product candidate discovery is undertaken pursuant to “discovery on
demand” type arrangements, or with respect to existing product
candidates, collaborations can be initiated prior to or at the
proof of concept stage, or after additional preclinical activities
have been undertaken by Compugen. In 2002, Compugen established an
affiliate, Evogene Ltd. (www.evogene.com) (TASE: EVGN.TA), to
utilize certain of the Company’s in silico predictive discovery
capabilities in agricultural biotechnology. For additional
information, please visit Compugen's corporate website at
www.cgen.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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