On November 11, 2021 Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a leader in predictive target discovery, reported that Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) completed its $20 million investment in Compugen in consideration for the issuance of 2,332,815 shares of Compugen purchased at $8.57333 per share, representing a 33% premium over the closing price on November 9, 2021 (Press release, Compugen, NOV 11, 2021, View Source [SID1234595311]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
As part of the expansion of the collaboration, a joint steering committee has been formed to facilitate strategic oversight and guidance for the programs run under the collaboration. This will run alongside the existing joint development committee which acts at an operational level.
"Bristol Myers Squibb’s strategic investment in Compugen strengthens our relationship and the goal of both companies to take forward our clinical studies conducted under our collaboration in bringing innovative therapies to cancer patients," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and CEO of Compugen. "We value Bristol Myers Squibb’s continued support of Compugen and in our evaluation of our DNAM axis hypothesis by testing COM701 in combination with nivolumab as a dual combination and in combination with nivolumab and BMS-986207 as a triple combination targeting PVRIG, PD-1 and TIGIT."
About COM701
COM701 is a humanized antibody that binds with high affinity to PVRIG, a novel immune checkpoint discovered computationally by Compugen, blocking the interaction with its ligand, PVRL2. In pre-clinical studies, blockade of PVRIG by COM701 has demonstrated potent, reproducible enhancement of T cell activation, consistent with the desired mechanism of action of activating T cells in the tumor microenvironment to generate anti-tumor immune responses. Compugen has identified PVRIG and TIGIT as key parallel and complementary inhibitory pathways in the DNAM axis, which also intersect with the well-established PD-1 pathway. Research from Compugen suggests that these three pathways have different dominance in different tumor types and patients, implying that to induce effective antitumor responses, certain patient populations may require the blockade of different combinations of these three pathways. To test this hypothesis, Compugen has established a science-driven, biomarker informed clinical program, which evaluates different combinations of these axis members across tumor types. Compugen is the only company with clinical assets targeting both PVRIG and TIGIT in its portfolio allowing it to explore the potential of blocking these parallel and complementary members of the DNAM axis comprehensively to drive robust immune responses.