Thursday, February 2, 2012

Compugen: Further Validation of Predictive Drug Discovery

Today, Compugen announced test results demonstrating the therapeutic potential of CGEN-15001T as a drug target for treatment of multiple cancers by means of monoclonal antibody (“mAb”) therapy. CGEN-15001T is a membrane protein, predicted by Compugen to be a B7/CD28-like protein. The B7/CD28 family of proteins is known to be involved in regulation of the immune system in immune related disorders and in cancer.

Of particular interest, as noted in Compugen's press release (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Compugen-Cancer-Target-bw-2304211202.html?x=0), is the tripartite mechanism of action postulated for a monoclonal antibody directed against this target:

"Taken together, the expression profile of CGEN-15001T and its proposed immunomodulatory profile suggest that a single therapeutic antibody against CGEN-15001T may attack cancer cells through three key mechanisms. One mechanism is by direct targeting and killing of the cancer cells expressing CGEN-15001T. Since CGEN-15001T is expressed on numerous cancers, an antibody against CGEN-15001T has therapeutic potential for various cancer indications. Another mechanism of the therapeutic antibody may be achieved by blocking the inhibition of the immune system induced by CGEN-15001T, whether expressed on the cancer cells and/or the immune cells within the tumor. And third, the same mAb for CGEN-15001T may promote the immune system component which acts against the tumor (Th1), while inhibiting the component which promotes the cancer (Th2). The significant potential of having all three mechanisms in a single therapeutic antibody to CGEN-15001T is being pursued actively by Compugen as part of its expanded mAb activities within its Pipeline Program."

Also meaningful is the fact that Compugen’s Protein Family Members Discovery Platform, underlying the discovery of both CGEN-15001 (see, most recently: http://www.cgen.com/Content.aspx?Page=press_releases&NewsId=595) and CGEN-15001T, was announced little more than a year ago (see: http://www.cgen.com/Content.aspx?Page=press_releases&NewsId=524). The speed with which the platform was created, and the resultant rapid discovery and validation of CGEN-15001, CGEN-15001T and other B7/CD28-like proteins, all at a cost dwarfing typical discovery of new therapeutic candidates, attest to the power of Compugen's predictive discovery science. Although there can be no assurances that any of these early stage candidates will become commercialized products, the manner in which these candidates were created and their promising test results speak for themselves, and, in my opinion, augur a new era of drug discovery.

[As noted in prior blog entries, I am a Compugen shareholder, this blog entry is not a recommendation to buy or sell Compugen shares, and in September 2009 I began work as a part-time external consultant to Compugen. The opinions expressed herein are mine and are based on publicly available information. This blog entry has not been authorized, approved or reviewed prior to posting by Compugen.]

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Jeffrey.

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  2. You mean, congratulations to Compugen. Thanks for your kind words, which I will relay to the company.

    Jeffrey

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  3. Congratulations to Compugen and compliments Jeffrey on your excellent capacity to communicate CGEN's achievements to the wider public.
    This is exactly the outreach that Compugen needs and deserves.
    Not everyone is able to grasp the extraordinary depth of Compugen's scientific advances and their tangible implications for the world of pharma. You blogs are extremely helpful.

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  4. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-05/compugen-soars-to-six-year-high-on-cancer-treatment-bets.html

    Don't know if we can stand too much more excitement! Everything is lining up for a spectacular year.

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  5. The company will “start seeing revenue from deals” with drug companies in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Anat Cohen-Dayag said Feb. 3 in a phone interview from Tel Aviv. Compugen isn’t interested in being bought out, she said.
    I read this following quote by Anat in Feb 6 Bloomberg BusinesWeek interview by Shoshanna Solomon and Zachary Tracer. This is the most directly positive I have heard the management communicate.

    The company will “start seeing revenue from deals” with drug companies in 2012, Chief Executive Officer Anat Cohen-Dayag said Feb. 3 in a phone interview from Tel Aviv. Compugen isn’t interested in being bought out, she said.

    “The name of the game for Compugen is making as many discoveries as possible and incorporating them into the development of pipelines for pharmaceutical companies,” she said. “Now that we really have candidates that are moving forward, that are showing capabilities, there is interest from pharma companies.”

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  6. Hello,

    This is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know about this topic. Monoclonal antibodies are often humanized and involves using human sequences for the constant regions and using mouse or other animal derived sequence for the binding region. Humanization reduces the immune reaction of the patient to the anti body itself...

    ReplyDelete