Drug discovery company Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) has signed a research collaboration agreement with cancer treatment developer Seattle Genetics, Inc., USA covering a Compugen-discovered oncology target.
The agreement provides Seattle Genetics with an initial evaluation period and an option for an exclusive worldwide milestone and royalty bearing license for development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody therapeutics addressing this novel target. The existence of the target, which is a previously unknown splice variant of a known oncology target, was initially predicted in silico through the use of Compugen’s monoclonal antibody (mAb) targets discovery platform. The predicted molecule’s existence and overexpression in several of the most prevalent solid cancers was recently demonstrated in independent experimentally based studies.
Compugen president and CEO Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag said, “We are very enthusiastic about this new collaboration, our first with Seattle Genetics, a leading company in the rapidly growing field of monoclonal antibodies and antibody drug conjugates. The Compugen novel target that is the subject of this agreement has shown potential in a number of important unmet areas of cancer treatment.”
Compugen shares rose 2.7% on Friday to $4.62, giving a market cap of $153.7 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 31, 2010
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