Drug discovery company Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) said today that it has reached an investment agreement with private investment firm Baize Investments (Israel) Ltd.

Compugen will receive $5,000,000 in R&D funding. Under the terms of the funding agreement, which is in support of Compugen's recently announced pipeline program, Baize Investments acquired a financial interest in five designated Compugen-discovered molecules. Baize also was issued a warrant to purchase 500,000 Compugen shares at an exercise price of $6.00 per share, expiring June 30, 2013.

Baize's financial interest in the five designated molecules consists of the right to receive from Compugen up to 10% of certain future payments received by Compugen from third parties in the event of the successful licensing out for development and/or commercialization of such designated Compugen molecules. Currently, all five molecules are in active research in the Company's Pipeline Program, with their current status ranging from in silico selection to post animal model validation.

Baize can, until June 30, 2013, waive the right to future payments in exchange for 833,334 Compugen ordinary shares.

Baize is a private corporation which invests in innovative medical technologies.

Compugen chairman Martin Gerstel said "This arrangement is an excellent example of how we can financially leverage our unique predictive product candidate discovery infrastructure to provide an increasing number of novel and attractive product candidates for potential licensing."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 30, 2010

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