Compugen Ltd (CGEN)

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Compugen to Receive Milestone Payment Triggered by Dosing of First Patient in the Second Phase 3 Trial Evaluating Rilvegostomig

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/compugen-receive-milestone-payment-triggered-110000791.html

Phase 3 trial evaluating rilvegostomig as monotherapy and in combination with AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo's datopotamab deruxtecan in first-line nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer

Broadening the assessment of rilvegostomig reinforces Compugen's partnering strategy to expand opportunities for its pipeline

Compugen to receive $5 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca

HOLON, Israel, May 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN) (TASE: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a pioneer in computational target discovery, today announced it is entitled to receive a milestone payment from AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) triggered by the dosing of the first patient in a Phase 3 trial evaluating rilvegostomig, AstraZeneca's PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody. The TIGIT component of rilvegostomig is derived from Compugen's clinical-stage anti-TIGIT antibody, COM902. Both rilvegostomig and COM902 are designed to have reduced Fc effector function.

The trial, called TROPION-Lung10, is evaluating the efficacy and safety of rilvegostomig as monotherapy and in combination with datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd), AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo's (TSE: 4568) TROP2-directed antibody drug conjugate versus pembrolizumab as first-line treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer with high PD-L1 expression (TC = 50%) and without actionable genomic alterations. The trial is sponsored by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo and is expected to enrol approximately 675 patients in more than 14 countries. Further details about TROPION-Lung10 are available on ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT06357533.

"We are very excited to see the advancement of rilvegostomig into its second Phase 3 trial by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo, two global leaders in oncology," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President, and Chief Executive Officer of Compugen. "TROPION-Lung10 follows the start of the ARTEMIDE-Biliary01 Phase 3 trial evaluating rilvegostomig in biliary tract cancer, for which we received a $10 million milestone payment. Now, after dosing the first patient in this lung cancer trial, we are eligible to receive a $5 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca. Broadening the assessment of rilvegostomig reinforces our partnering strategy to expand opportunities for our pipeline and brings us closer to realizing potential future milestone payments and royalties."

The ARTEMIDE-Biliary01 Phase 3 trial is evaluating the efficacy and tolerability of rilvegostomig compared to placebo in combination with investigator's choice of chemotherapy in patients with biliary tract cancer after surgical resection with curative intent. Further details about the ARTEMIDE-Biliary01 trial are available on ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT06109779.

About the Compugen-AstraZeneca license agreement

In 2018, Compugen and AstraZeneca entered into an agreement 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 bispecific and multispecific antibody products, excluding such bispecific and multispecific 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. Compugen has received $35.5 million in upfront and milestone payments to date and is eligible to receive an additional $5 million milestone payment as described in this press release. Compugen is eligible to receive up to an aggregate milestone amount of $200 million in development and regulatory milestones for the first and second indications for the first product 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.

Rilvegostomig (previously AZD2936) is a PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody where the TIGIT component is derived from Compugen's clinical stage anti-TIGIT antibody, COM902. Rilvegostomig is in Phase 3 development by AstraZeneca through this license agreement. Both rilvegostomig and COM902 are designed to have reduced Fc effector function to avoid depletion of CD8+ T cells.