- Dosing of first patient in Phase 3 trial of rilvegostomig,
a PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody, will trigger $10 million milestone payment from
AstraZeneca
HOLON, Israel, Dec. 19,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq:
CGEN) (TASE: CGEN) a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company
and a pioneer in computational target discovery, today announced it
will be eligible to receive a milestone payment of $10 million from AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq:
AZN), when the first patient is dosed in AstraZeneca's
ARTEMIDE-Bil01 trial with rilvegostomig. Rilvegostomig is a
PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody where the TIGIT component is derived
from Compugen's clinical-stage anti-TIGIT antibody, COM902. The
ARTEMIDE-Bil01 trial is expected to recruit about 750 subjects in
more than 20 countries with biliary tract cancer who will be
randomized to receive rilvegostomig or placebo with investigator
choice chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment after resection with
curative intent.
"I am delighted to see the advancement of rilvegostomig into
Phase 3 by AstraZeneca, a global leader in oncology," said
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President,
and Chief Executive Officer of Compugen. "I believe that the
progress of the rilvegostomig clinical program in this Phase 3
trial along with the Phase 1 and 2 trials in additional
indications, demonstrates the commitment to explore the potential
of this bispecific antibody, where the TIGIT component is derived
from our anti-TIGIT antibody COM902."
About the Compugen-AstraZeneca license agreement
In 2018, Compugen and AstraZeneca entered into an agreement by
which Compugen provided an exclusive license to AstraZeneca to use
Compugen's monospecific antibodies that bind to TIGIT, including
COM902, for the development of bispecific and multispecific
antibody products, excluding such bispecific and multispecific
antibodies that also bind to PVRIG, PVRL2 and/or TIGIT. AstraZeneca
is responsible for all research, development, and commercial
activities. AstraZeneca has the right to create multiple products
under this license. In addition to the $10
million milestone payment described here which Compugen will
be eligible to receive on dosing of the first patient in the Phase
3 ARTEMIDE-Bil01 trial, Compugen has received a $10 million upfront payment, and an additional
$15.5 million in milestone payments
to date, all out of up to an aggregate milestone amount of
$200 million that the Company is
eligible to receive in development, regulatory and commercial
milestones for the first product, as well as tiered royalties on
future product sales. If additional bi- or multi-specific products
are developed based on Compugen's monospecific antibodies that bind
to TIGIT, additional milestones and royalties would be due to
Compugen.
Further details about ARTEMIDE-Bil01 trial are available on
ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT06109779.
About Compugen
Compugen is a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery and
development company utilizing its broadly applicable predictive
computational discovery capabilities to identify new drug targets
and biological pathways for developing cancer
immunotherapies. Compugen has developed two proprietary
product candidates: COM701, a potential first-in-class anti-PVRIG
antibody and COM902, a potential best-in-class antibody
targeting TIGIT for the treatment of solid tumors. Compugen also
has a clinical stage partnered program, rilvegostomig (previously
AZD2936), a PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody where the TIGIT
component is derived from Compugen's clinical stage anti-TIGIT
antibody, COM902, in Phase 3 development by AstraZeneca through a
license agreement for the development of bispecific and
multispecific antibodies. In addition, the Company's
therapeutic pipeline of early-stage immuno-oncology programs
consists of programs aiming to address various mechanisms of immune
resistance, of which the most advanced program, COM503, is in IND
enabling studies. COM503 is a potential first-in-class, high
affinity antibody which blocks the interaction between IL-18
binding protein and IL-18, thereby freeing natural IL-18 in the
tumor microenvironment to inhibit cancer growth. Compugen is
headquartered in Israel, with
offices in San Francisco, CA.
Compugen's shares are listed on Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol CGEN.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the safe-harbor provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs,
expectations, and assumptions of Compugen. Forward-looking
statements can be identified using terminology such as "will,"
"may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "potential," "plan,"
"goal," "estimate," "likely," "should," "confident," and "intends,"
and similar expressions that are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking
statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to
our expectation to receive the milestone payment from AstraZeneca
and statement regarding the progress of the rilvegostomig clinical
program and our belief that it demonstrates the commitment to
explore the potential of this bispecific antibody, where the TIGIT
component is derived from our anti-TIGIT antibody COM902. 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; Compugen's approach to the discovery of therapeutic
products is based on its proprietary computational target discovery
infrastructure, which is unproven clinically; Compugen does not
know whether it will be able to discover and develop additional
potential product candidates or products of commercial value; and
the general market, political and economic conditions in the
countries in which Compugen operates, including Israel; and the effect of the evolving nature
of the recent war in Gaza between
Israel and Hamas. These risks and
other risks 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:
Yvonne
Naughton, Ph.D.
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Email: ir@cgen.com
Tel: +1 (628) 241-0071
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SOURCE Compugen Ltd.