Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) today announced the initiation of a multi-year research collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, on evaluating immune checkpoint candidates. The project will be directed by Prof. Drew Pardoll and Dr. Charles Drake of Johns Hopkins.
Prof. Pardoll and Dr. Drake, members of Compugen’s Scientific Advisory Board, are pioneers in the field of immuno-oncology. The collaboration will focus on further evaluation of selected novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint candidates discovered by Compugen for the potential treatment of cancer. This evaluation will include the candidates’ differentiation profile with respect to known checkpoints and their potential to serve either for monotherapy or in combination with other cancer treatments.
This collaborative research will expand Compugen’s ongoing assessment of the biology and mechanism of actions of its novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint proteins, and provide access to the world-class immuno-oncology research tools and expertise at Johns Hopkins University. The specific studies under the collaboration will assist Compugen in further substantiating the potential of its novel proteins as targets for cancer immunotherapy. It is anticipated that the results of this collaboration will significantly broaden the underlying scientific knowledge of Compugen’s targets and will support their translation toward the clinic.
Compugen president and CEO Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag said, “Prof. Pardoll and Dr. Drake are recognized as world leaders in the field of immuno-oncology. We are very enthusiastic to be collaborating with them and with Johns Hopkins University in this comprehensive research program to further characterize and differentiate our novel cancer immunotherapy B7/CD28-like candidates. We anticipate that this research will provide important insights for the continuing development by us and our potential future partners of our therapeutic candidates in the exceptionally promising field of cancer immunotherapy.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 18, 2014
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