Compugen Discloses Initial Experimental Results for Predicted ADC Targets

Compugen Ltd. has announced positive initial experimental results for the first two of five in silico predicted targets for antibody drug conjugate (ADC) cancer therapy disclosed in late 2013.

The two candidates demonstrate low expression levels in normal critical tissues, such as heart and liver, and higher expression in multiple cancer types, such as colorectal and prostate cancers, for which there is high unmet medical need.

These results suggest that the two target candidates may serve for the development of ADC therapy in oncology. Initial validation of the remaining three candidates, and further testing of these two, is ongoing. It is expected that a therapeutic antibody discovery program against a selected ADC target will commence later this year.

Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, Compugen’s President and CEO, stated, “As previously disclosed, most of our R&D and commercialization efforts are now being directed towards immuno-oncology related activities supporting our immune checkpoint based candidates for immunotherapy. As these very promising candidates based on our first discovery program move ahead, we look forward to further broadening the scope and diversity of our Pipeline Program with therapeutic antibodies against ADC targets resulting from our second discovery program. We therefore are very pleased to report these initial positive experimental results in this additional area of high industry interest, supporting the therapeutic potential of these first two target candidates and further demonstrating the unique capabilities of our broadly applicable predictive discovery infrastructure.”