Compugen Ltd (CGEN)

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Compugen Ltd. Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2005 Financial Results

Thursday February 9, 7:00 am ET

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2006--Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq:CGEN - News) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year-end December 31, 2005.

"During 2005 we completed our evolution from a company providing life science software products and services on a fee basis, to a company that discovers and licenses potential therapeutic and diagnostic products to leading partners under milestone and revenue sharing agreements," stated Alex Kotzer, Compugen's President and CEO. "A primary objective for 2006 will be to substantially increase the number of product candidates moving forward under such agreements in both current and additional areas of focus. In view of our unique multidisciplinary research team, our deeper understandings of important biological phenomena at the molecular level, and our powerful discovery engines, we are confident of our ability to achieve our goals," Mr. Kotzer concluded.

Revenues for the year 2005 were $646,000, compared to $2.6 million for 2004. The net loss for 2005 was $14.0 million (including a non-cash charge of $391,000 for amortization of deferred compensation), or $0.50 per share, compared with a net loss of $13.7 million (including a non-cash charge of $755,000 for amortization of deferred compensation), or $0.50 per share, for 2004.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005, the Company had no revenues compared to $159,000 for the same quarter in 2004. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2005 was $3.4 million (including a non-cash charge of $78,000 for amortization of deferred compensation), or $0.12 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.7 million (including a non-cash charge of $155,000 for amortization of deferred compensation), or $0.14 per share, for the corresponding quarter in 2004.

Previously, the Company presented governmental and other grants as part of Revenues and Grants, based on the single step income statement presentation approach. These amounts have been reclassified for all periods presented and are now shown as a deduction from research and development expenses. Governmental and other grants totaled $2.3 million for 2005 compared to $1.4 million for 2004. Governmental and other grants for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2005 were $800,000, compared with $393,000 for the corresponding quarter in 2004.

2006 Key Objectives

Diagnostic Unit: To date, Compugen's diagnostic activities have focused primarily on biomarker candidates for immunoassay diagnostics of various cancers and cardiovascular diseases. The Company has entered into milestone and royalty bearing agreements with three leading diagnostic companies covering the development and commercialization of potentially more than a dozen immunoassay products in these areas, based on Compugen's discoveries. During 2006, in addition to seeking further partners in the field of immunoassay diagnostics, an important new focus for this unit will be biomarker discoveries for nucleic acid diagnostics.
Therapeutics Unit: The primary activities for this unit involve the on-going experimental validation of dozens of potential therapeutic proteins predicted by the Company's initial discovery engines and selected for further evaluation. Out of these, during the next few months, the Company intends to select for further development the therapeutic candidates that show the best results, based on their proven biological activities. This selection should also dictate the therapeutic indications that Compugen will initially focus on and for which the Company will identify additional candidates using its new discovery engines. The Company expects that during 2006 it will largely complete these validation efforts and will begin to seek partners for the further development and commercialization of successfully validated molecules.
Research and Discovery Unit: Compugen's key competitive advantages are its unique multidisciplinary research team, its deeper understandings of important biological phenomena at the molecular level, and its scientific and technological infrastructure for life science discovery. These result from the Company's pioneering and on-going incorporation of ideas and methods from mathematics, computer science and physics into biology, chemistry and medicine. During 2006, the Company intends to continue to invest substantial resources in further developing this world-class capability, including the development of new discovery engines and technologies for the discovery of novel therapeutic and diagnostic candidates.
2006 Projected Cash Uses and Balances

Compugen's most important financial consideration is to ensure the availability of the financial resources necessary for the Company to continue to develop until it attains positive cash flow from operations. Therefore, the key short-term financial measurements for Compugen relate to cash balances.

As of December 31, 2005, Compugen had $36.8 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, including approximately $834,000 that was received on behalf of, and will be transferred to, research consortium partners. The Company's expectation is that its net cash usage for 2006 will be in the range of $11-13 million, and therefore expects to end 2006 with approximately $24 million.

Conference Call and Web Cast Information

Compugen will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter and year-end results on February 9, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. EST. To access the conference call, please dial 1-866-860-9642 from the US or [phone] internationally. The call will also be available via live web cast through Compugen's Website, located at www.cgen.com.

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