On February 14, 2023 Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a pioneer in computational target discovery, reported that rilvegostomig, AstraZeneca’s bi-specific antibody derived from Compugen’s COM902, is expected to progress into Phase 3 this year (Press release, Compugen, FEB 14, 2023, View Source [SID1234627195]). AstraZeneca announced plans to initiate a Phase 3 trial for rilvegostomig (previously AZD2936), a PD-1/TIGIT bi-specific antibody and is also developing an expanded Phase 2 program.
"We are excited that AstraZeneca, a global leader in the development of oncology therapeutics, plans to advance its PD-1/TIGIT bi-specific derived from our COM902 into a Phase 3 trial this year. In addition, we are happy to see that AstraZeneca continues to swiftly grow the rilvegostomig Phase 2 program across multiple indications including non-small cell lung cancer and gastric cancer," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President, and Chief Executive Officer of Compugen. "We believe that the continued expansion of the rilvegostomig clinical program demonstrates the commitment to explore the potential of TIGIT and our differentiated anti-TIGIT, COM902. Like COM902, a reduced Fc effector function anti-TIGIT antibody, rilvegostomig was engineered to reduce Fc effector functionality, with the potential to enhance anti-tumor activity. We have always believed that this could be the optimal design for an anti-TIGIT and we look forward to seeing how it plays out in the clinic. While TIGIT blocking antibodies may function in PD-L1 high expressing patients, our data consistently show that addition of an anti-PVRIG may sensitize tumors to also respond to PD-1 and TIGIT blockade even in PD-L1 low expressing patients. As leaders in the DNAM-1 axis space, we believe that evaluating the triple combination of COM902, with COM701, our anti-PVRIG, and pembrolizumab has the potential to maximize clinical benefit for patients."
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Dr. Cohen-Dayag added, "Our license agreement with AstraZeneca is part of our strategy to broaden opportunities for our pipeline, taking advantage of bi-specifics for combination development while maintaining our focus on the development of COM902 as part of various combinations either by Compugen or in collaboration with future partners, including in combination with COM701, our potential first-in-class anti-PVRIG antibody."
About the Compugen-AstraZeneca License Agreement
In 2018, Compugen and AstraZeneca entered into an agreement, as amended, by which Compugen provided an exclusive license to AstraZeneca to use Compugen’s monospecific antibodies that bind to TIGIT, including COM902, for the development of bi-specific and multi-specific antibody products, excluding such bi-specific and multi-specific antibodies that also bind to PVRIG, PVRL2 and/or TIGIT. AstraZeneca is responsible for all research, development, and commercial activities. AstraZeneca has the right to create multiple products under this license. To date, Compugen has received a $10 million upfront payment, an additional $15.5 million in milestone payments and is entitled to receive up to an aggregate $200 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones for the first product, as well as tiered royalties on future product sales. If additional bi or multi-specific products are developed based on Compugen’s monospecific antibodies that bind to TIGIT, additional milestones and royalties would be due to Compugen.