Compugen Reveals CGEN-15052's Positive Results, 2 New Discoveries; Stock Up

(RTTNews) - Shares of Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) increased around 5 percent in trading in Israel after the drug discovery firm announced Monday positive experimental results for CGEN-15052, a novel immune checkpoint candidate for cancer immunotherapy, as well as the discovery of two new candidates.

The company noted that CGEN-15052 in several experimental settings demonstrated robust inhibition of T cell activation, both as a membrane protein and as an Fc fusion protein.

According to Compugen, initial testing of human cancer tissue samples with a polyclonal antibody indicated that CGEN-15052 is expressed in multiple epithelial cancers, with particularly high expression in lung cancer samples. These positive findings support CGEN-15052's involvement in tumor immunology and its potential as a target for cancer immunotherapy.

Immune checkpoints are inhibitory receptors and their ligands, which are crucial for the maintenance of self-tolerance and for the protection of tissues from damage when the immune system is responding to pathogenic infection or other injuries, the company noted.

Compugen also announced the predictive discovery of two new B7-like immune checkpoint candidates. The discovery was accomplished utilizing the same predictive models and algorithms that led to the identification of nine novel candidates in the company's earlier discovery efforts.

In Tel Aviv, Compugen shares are gaining 142 Israeli New Shekel or 5.11 percent, and trading at 2,920.00 New Shekel.

In pre-market activity on Nasdaq, the shares are gaining $0.21 or 2.57 percent, and trading at $8.39.