Compugen Ltd, a therapeutic discovery and development company, has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a patent for COM701, the company's lead immuno-oncology therapeutic antibody candidate. The patent was issued under the USPTO's pilot programme providing early review for patent applications pertaining to cancer immunotherapy in support of the White House Cancer Moonshot programme, and is one of less than a dozen patents granted under the programme to date.

Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President and CEO of Compugen, commented, "We are excited to have the first patent of the COM701 program issued and we expect it to add significant value to our COM701 patent portfolio in the field of immuno-oncology. The patent is part of our global strategy of immuno-oncology patents and patent applications controlled by our company to protect our IP assets."

The patent, US Patent No. 9,714,289, relates to the method of using COM701 for activating T cells in cancer patients. Activating T cells results in stimulating the immune system, and therefore could be used for cancer immunotherapy treatment. The patent is expected to expire no earlier than February 2036 in the U.S. for the issued claims.

COM701 is a humanized hybridoma antibody that binds with high affinity to PVRIG, a novel B7/CD28-like immune checkpoint target candidate discovered by Compugen, blocking its interaction with PVRL2. Blockade of PVRIG by COM701 has demonstrated potent, reproducible enhancement of T cell activation, consistent with the desired mechanism of action of activating T cells in the tumor microenvironment to generate anti-tumor immune responses. In addition, COM701 combined with antagonist anti-TIGIT or anti-PD1 antibodies has demonstrated synergistic effect on human T cell stimulation, indicating the potential of these combinations to further enhance immune response against tumors.