Compugen to Collaborate with Teva for Discovery of Biomarkers for Drug Toxicity

Compugen Ltd. has announced that it has signed an agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to collaborate on a project for the discovery of biomarkers for the detection of drug toxicity in preclinical stages of the drug development process.

According to the agreement, the initial focus of the collaboration will be on biomarkers for the early detection of potential nephrotoxicity. The parties may jointly choose to expand the scope of the collaboration to include biomarkers for the detection of hepatotoxicity and/or cardiotoxicity in response to drug treatment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Compugen has granted Teva a license to use the discovered markers for research and development activities while retaining commercialization rights for licensing to other companies, as well as rights for internal use.

Under the collaboration, Compugen expects to utilize its computational tools, discovery engines and nucleic acid testing technologies for the purpose of predicting and validating toxicity biomarkers.

Compugen's integrated analysis will incorporate data derived from biological samples collected by Teva in a preclinical study designed specifically for this project, as well as Compugen's expression and clinical data.