Compugen Extends Discovery Capabilities to Additional Immunomodulatory Proteins
July 14 2014 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Incorporation of algorithms modeling
additional biological phenomena leads to predictive discovery of
four potential immunomodulatory targets
New candidates enter Company’s Pipeline
Program
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) announced today the extension of
its predictive discovery capability to identify immunomodulatory
proteins in addition to the B7/CD28-like proteins that have been
the focus of the Company’s Pipeline Program to date. The initial
utilization of this extended capability resulted in the discovery
of four novel immunomodulatory proteins predicted to act as immune
checkpoints. The newly discovered proteins have been added to the
Company’s Pipeline Program as potential targets for cancer
immunotherapy.
The new discovery capability incorporates the previously
announced predictive modeling of two distinct biological phenomena
related to the role of the immune system that are conceptually
different from those employed in the discovery of Compugen’s
B7/CD28-like candidates. The first biological phenomenon that was
modeled exploits the interplay between the immune system and
intruding pathogens. As a result of such interplay, some immune
proteins tend to evolve differently. Compugen’s scientists devised
an evolutionary model to detect such immune proteins, and the
predictive algorithm was incorporated into Compugen’s discovery
infrastructure and integrated with its existing tools for the
discovery of target candidates for cancer immunotherapy.
The modeling of the second biological phenomenon relies heavily
on the Company’s MED Platform, which was employed to predict
proteins that play a role in the biology of tumor-associated
macrophages (TAMs). TAMs are an important component of the tumor
microenvironment and play a major role in creating the
immunosuppressive environment that enables tumor development.
Proteins having the potential to modulate the tumor
microenvironment may serve as potential targets for cancer
immunotherapy.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, President and CEO of Compugen, stated, “In
late 2010, we selected the family of B7/CD28 immune checkpoint
proteins as the first market focused program for our predictive
discovery infrastructure, resulting from more than a decade of
innovative multidisciplinary research. During the past few years,
our ability to systematically identify novel B7/CD28-like protein
candidates has been demonstrated, despite prior and ongoing
long-term discovery efforts by others in this very important
field.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, “We are of course very proud that in
less than four years, we have established a growing position in
this field, including a substantial early-stage pipeline of
therapeutic product candidates for both oncology and immunology,
based largely on our B7/CD28-like protein candidate discoveries.
With today’s announcement, we are further broadening our
early-stage pipeline with additional immunomodulatory opportunities
and again demonstrating the power and flexibility of our predictive
discovery capabilities.”
About Immunomodulatory Proteins and Immune
Checkpoints
Immunomodulatory proteins are proteins capable of modifying or
regulating one or more immune functions. Immune checkpoints are
immunomodulatory proteins, including inhibitory receptors and
ligands, which are crucial for the maintenance of self-tolerance
(the prevention of autoimmunity) and for the protection of tissues
from damage during an immune response. These immune checkpoints are
"hijacked" by tumors to block the ability of the immune system to
destroy the tumor. Therapeutic blockade of immune checkpoints can
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. Checkpoint-blocking antibodies
have lately demonstrated impressive clinical benefits and long-term
survival, even for end-stage patients, raising hopes that this
novel approach will lead to effective therapeutic strategies and
valuable additions in the fight against cancer.
About Compugen
Compugen is a leading drug discovery company focused on
therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies 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 product
candidates, which are then advanced in its Pipeline Program. The
Company's business model includes collaborations covering the
further development and commercialization of selected product
candidates 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. Compugen’s wholly-owned U.S.
subsidiary located in South San Francisco, California, was
established for the research and development of monoclonal antibody
therapeutic candidates against Compugen’s drug targets. For
additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate website
at www.cgen.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements include words such as “may,” “expects,”
“anticipates,” “potential,” “believes,” and “intends,” and describe
opinions about future events. Forward-looking statements in this
press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating
to the potential for Compugen predicted immunomodulatory proteins,
both B7/CD28-like and otherwise, to function as checkpoint targets,
or to be successfully developed and/or commercialized in the form
of therapeutic products or targets for therapeutic products for
immunology or for oncology. 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. These and other risks are 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.
Compugen Ltd.Tsipi HaitovskyGlobal Media
Liaison+972-52-598-9892tsipih@cgen.com
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