Compugen Ltd announced the discovery and initial experimental validation of CGEN-928 as a drug target for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In recently completed studies, CGEN-928, a membrane protein which previously had no known function or potential clinical utility, demonstrated broad expression in human multiple myeloma tumour cells, including drug resistant and aggressive primary tumour cell lines. In addition, the protein’s expression profile indicates its possible use as both a diagnostic and prognostic marker for multiple myeloma. The potential of CGEN-928 to address these important unmet medical needs was initially predicted through the use of Compugen’s Monoclonal Antibody Targets Discovery Platform. Patent applications covering the use of CGEN-928 for these and additional therapeutic and diagnostic purposes have been filed by the Company.

Dr James R Berenson, a leading multiple myeloma specialist and the Medical & Scientific director of The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research in California, where most of this research was conducted, stated, “These early results obtained with CGEN-928 are very encouraging, especially given the fact that this protein is showing high levels of expression in many multiple myeloma tumors that are very drug resistant and highly aggressive.”

Earlier evaluation by Compugen of the in silico predicted CGEN-928 transcript demonstrated high expression levels in multiple myeloma samples compared with various normal tissue samples. Studies were then performed with two independent experimental systems confirming the existence of the CGEN-928 protein on the membranes of cells derived from the bone marrow of multiple myeloma patients, as well as on the membranes of primary tumour cell lines both from cell culture and grown in mice. These experimental results, demonstrating CGEN-928’s broad expression in multiple myeloma tumour cells, support its potential therapeutic value in the treatment of multiple myeloma, including in patients with an aggressive and drug resistant form of the disease. These findings also indicate that CGEN-928 may offer the diagnostic potential to detect a broader population of multiple myeloma cells, including critical drug resistant tumour cells.

Dr Anat Cohen-Dayag, Compugen’s president and CEO, stated, “We are extremely pleased by our initial portfolio of novel antibody drug targets, such as CGEN-928, which has the potential to meet critical needs for oncology diagnosis and treatment. Due to a number of advantages, antibody therapy is the fastest growing drug class, and identification of appropriate antibody targets is the key discovery challenge. More importantly from a corporate standpoint, Compugen’s recent target candidate discoveries are clearly demonstrating to the biopharmaceutical industry the power and unique capabilities of our Monoclonal Antibody Targets Discovery Platform, and we are now seeing rapidly growing interest in exploring potential collaborations with us in this field.”

Compugen is a leading drug and diagnostic product candidate discovery company.