Compugen Ltd., a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery and development company, researches, develops, and commercializes therapeutic and product candidates in Israel, the United States, and Europe. The company's immuno-oncology pipeline consists of COM701, an anti-PVRIG antibody that is in Phase I clinical study used for the treatment of solid tumors; COM902, a therapeutic antibody targeting TIGIT, which is in Phase I clinical study in patients with advanced malignancies as a monotherapy; Bapotulimab, a therapeutic antibody targeting ILDR2 that is in Phase I clinical study in patients with solid tumors; and AZD2936, a novel anti-TIGIT/PD-1 bispecific antibody, which is in Phase I/II clinical study in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Its therapeutic pipeline also includes early-stage immuno-oncology programs focused primarily on myeloid targets. The company has collaboration agreement with Bayer Pharma AG for the research, development, and commercialization of antibody-based therapeutics against the company's immune checkpoint regulators; Bristol-Myers Squibb to evaluate the safety and tolerability of COM701 in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb's PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo in patients with advanced solid tumors; and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to evaluate novel T cell and myeloid checkpoint targets. It has license agreement with AstraZeneca for the development of bi-specific and multi-specific immuno-oncology antibody products; and research collaboration with Johns Hopkins University for myeloid. Compugen Ltd. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Holon, Israel.

History

Compugen was founded by Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler and Amir Natan. Mintz conceived of the idea for the company in 1991 while accompanying his wife, Liat Mintz, to a genomics engagement at the Pasteur Institute in France. She commented that the quantities of data being produced by scientists involved in DNA sequencing exceeded what computers could process at reasonable speeds. Eli Mintz partnered with colleagues Faigler and Natan from the IDF's elite Talpiot program to develop a more powerful specialized processor for sequence similarity searches; and the company's first product, dubbed the "Bioccelerator", had speeds up to one thousand times faster than other platforms being used at the time.In 1997, the company followed this success by introducing LEADS, an EST clustering and assembly platform. By around 2001, Compugen had effected a shift in its business model from a company whose almost exclusive focus was marketing computer programs and applications to one whose operations extended into the diagnostics and therapeutics fields. In 2010, under Dr. Cogen-Dayag's new leadership, the company shifted its business model to become a fully integrated biopharma company using its developed computational biology discovery technology to identify novel targets and develop its own pipeline of immuno-oncology drugs.Compugen began trading on the Nasdaq in 2000 and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2002. Also in 2002, Compugen spun off its subsidiary Evogene, established as an agriscience division in 1999.

Pipeline

COM701 / PVRIG

PVRIG is a novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target candidate. In June 2016, Compugen announced the selection of COM701 as the lead therapeutic candidate for PVRIG. COM701 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in patients with advanced solid tumors. The study is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of COM701 as monotherapy and in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor. Additional endpoints include evaluation of PK/PD and preliminary clinical activity in certain tumor types such as NSCLC, breast, ovarian endometrial cancer. Preclinical data demonstrate that these tumor types express a high level of the biomarkers PVRIG and PVRL2. The Phase 1 study is currently enrolling at various sites in the United States.

BAY 1905254 / ILDR2

ILDR2 is a novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target candidate discovered by Compugen. This program is partnered to Bayer AG. BAY 1905254, an antibody targeting ILDR2 was co-developed by Compugen and Bayer. After completing preclinical development, the program was transferred to Bayer for further development. Under the terms of their license and collaboration agreement, Bayer is responsible for all the clinical development of BAY 1905254 and its future commercialization worldwide, if the therapy is approved. In September 2018, Bayer initiated patient dosing in a Phase 1 trial assessing the safety and tolerability of BAY 1905254. The study is currently recruiting in patients in the United States. The trial will include 196 patients.

COM902 / TIGIT

TIGIT is an immune checkpoint in the B7/CD28 family. In March 2017, COM902 was selected as the lead therapeutic candidate for CGEN-15137/TIGIT. Compugen is planning to file an IND with the FDA and initiate a Phase 1 study for COM902 in 2019.

CGEN-15001/ILDR2 Fc Fusion

CGEN-15001/ILDR2-Fc is the company's lead program for autoimmune diseases.

Mission

Compugen's mission is to leverage its unique technology platforms and vast library of predictive models and algorithms to drive the development of therapeutic antibodies and small molecules to treat a broad range of diseases.

Vision

Compugen is committed to advancing the discovery of new therapies to treat diseases in which current therapeutic options are inadequate or do not exist. We strive to create a world where advanced diagnosis and therapeutics are available to everyone.

Key Team

Dr. Henry Adewoye M.D. (Sr. VP & Chief Medical Officer)

Mr. Eran Ben Dor (Gen. Counsel & Corp. Sec.)

Mr. Alberto Sessa (Chief Financial Officer)

Ms. Dorit Amitay (VP of HR)

Ms. Yvonne Naughton (Head of Investor Relations & Corp. Communications)

Dr. Yaron Turpaz M.B.A., Ph.D., MBA (Sr. VP & Sr. Advisor of Computational Discovery)

Rivka Schwartz (VP Research and Discovery)

Recognition and Awards

Compugen has received numerous awards for its work in drug discovery, including the Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award and the Research & Development 100 Award .