Preclinical Data Presented by Bayer at AACR Highlights BAY 1905254, Formerly the CGEN-15001T Program, Efficacy in Cancer Immunotherapy

HOLON, Israel, April 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN), a leader in predictive discovery and development of first-in-class therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy, today announced that preclinical data presented by Bayer AG at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research held April 14-18, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois, highlights the efficacy of BAY 1905254 (formerly the CGEN-15001T program) in cancer immunotherapy. BAY 1905254 is a first-in-class therapeutic antibody candidate targeting ILDR2, a novel immune checkpoint discovered by Compugen. Bayer plans to advance the program into first-in-human trials in 2018.

The data was highlighted in a Bayer poster presentation titled "Discovery and preclinical characterization of BAY 1905254 a novel immune checkpoint inhibitor for cancer immunotherapy targeting the immunoglobulin-like domain containing receptor 2 (ILDR2)." The poster describes the characterization of BAY 1905254, a human/mouse cross-reactive antibody blocking the immunosuppressive activity of ILDR2. The data demonstrated that BAY 1905254 exhibits anti-tumor activity as a monotherapy in various mouse models, and was also shown to have additive/synergistic anti-tumor effects in combination with other cancer therapy approaches, indicating the possibility for multiple combination approaches for use in cancer immunotherapy.

Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President and CEO of Compugen stated, "Bayer has been an outstanding partner for Compugen and we highly appreciate their continued commitment and investment in this promising program. This is an exciting time for Compugen as we become a clinical stage drug discovery and development company with two immuno-oncology programs advancing into the clinic this year – an internally developed program targeting PVRIG and an antibody targeting ILDR2 developed in collaboration with Bayer."

Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, added, "ILDR2 is a completely new immune checkpoint that we discovered through our computational discovery capabilities. This immune checkpoint, together with the discovery of TIGIT and PVRIG, clearly demonstrate the power and value of Compugen's predictive discovery capabilities in the discovery of new drug targets and pathways, enabling the development of first-in-class product opportunities."

The abstract for the Bayer poster is available on the AACR website.

About Compugen

Compugen is a therapeutic discovery and development company utilizing its broadly applicable predictive discovery infrastructure to identify novel drug targets and develop first-in-class therapeutics in the field of cancer immunotherapy. The Company's therapeutic pipeline consists of immuno-oncology programs against novel drug targets it has discovered, including T cell immune checkpoints and myeloid target programs. Compugen's business model is to selectively enter into collaborations for its novel targets and related drug product candidates at various stages of research and development. The Company is headquartered in Israel, with R&D facilities in both Israel and South San Francisco, CA. Compugen's shares are listed on NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CGEN. For additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate website at http://www.cgen.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "will," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "potential," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "likely," "should," "confident," and "intends," and describe opinions about possible future events. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Compugen to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Among these risks: Compugen's business model is substantially dependent on entering into collaboration agreements with third parties and Compugen may not be successful in generating adequate revenues or commercializing aspects of its business model. Moreover, the development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates involve many inherent risks, including failure to progress to clinical trials or, if they progress to or enter clinical trials, failure to receive regulatory approval. These and other factors, including the ability to finance the Company, are more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Compugen's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other documents that may be subsequently filed by Compugen from time to time with the SEC. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent Compugen's views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Compugen does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements unless required by law.

Company contact:

Elana Holzman
Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Compugen Ltd.
Email: elanah@cgen.com
Tel: +972(3)765-8124

Investor Relations contact:

Burns McClellan, Inc.
Jill Steier
Email: jsteier@burnsmc.com 
Tel: 212-213-0006

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/preclinical-data-presented-by-bayer-at-aacr-highlights-bay-1905254-formerly-the-cgen-15001t-program-efficacy-in-cancer-immunotherapy-300631114.html

SOURCE Compugen Ltd.