Benzinga | Apr 27, 2021 07:08AM EDT

Compugen Publishes Preclinical Data Demonstrating Therapeutic Potential of COM902 in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy

Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a leader in predictive target discovery, today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed article titled "COM902, a Novel Therapeutic Antibody Targeting TIGIT Augments Anti-Tumor T Cell Function in Combination with PVRIG or PD-1 Pathway Blockade" in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy. The preclinical data discussed in the paper highlight the potential of COM902, Compugen's anti-TIGIT therapeutic antibody, to enhance anti-tumor immune responses.

Article highlights include:

* Development and characterization of COM902, a fully human anti-TIGIT antibody which binds specifically to TIGIT and disrupts the binding of TIGIT with PVR, the cognate ligand of TIGIT

* Expression of TIGIT, a checkpoint within the DNAM-1 axis discovered in 2009 by Compugen and others, is induced on lymphocytes infiltrating the tumor microenvironment, including Tregs, effector T cells, and NK cells in diverse solid tumors

* PVR is expressed in a large set of solid tumors

* COM902, designed to have reduced Fc receptor engagement to avoid potential depletion of TIGIT-expressing effector T cells, does not demonstrate T cell depletion activity in-vitro or in-vivo, making it unlikely to elicit direct depletion of TIGIT-expressing effector T cells, which are important for anti-tumor activity

* Blockade of TIGIT/PVR binding by COM902 enhances human T and NK cell function in vitro. This effect can be increased by dual blockade of COM902 with either an anti-PVRIG antibody, COM701, or an anti-PD-1 antibody

* In vivo, in murine tumor models, COM902 combined with anti-PVRIG or anti-PD-L1 antibodies enhances anti-tumor lymphocyte responses and inhibits tumor growth

"This publication offers further validation of TIGIT as a potential novel target for cancer immunotherapies," said Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and CEO of Compugen. "These published data answer fundamental questions regarding TIGIT's biology and demonstrate potential synergies with other immune checkpoints. Excitingly, we have observed the amplification of anti-tumor immune responses after dual blockade of TIGIT with either PVRIG or PD-1, which validates our clinical strategy to pursue combination approaches targeting these checkpoints. Furthermore, these data provide additional support that COM902 has the potential to improve outcomes for patients with advanced malignancies, expanding the reach of checkpoint inhibitors."

COM902 is currently being studied as monotherapy in a Phase 1 trial of patients with advanced malignancies (NCT04354246). The trial, which was initiated in 2020, is on track to report initial data in Q4 2021. In addition, the initiation of the dual combination study of COM701 with COM902 is expected as planned in H2 2021.