Compugen Ltd announced the development and validation of its new Viral Peptides Discovery Platform designed to identify peptides from viral genomes for potential human therapeutic use against inflammatory and immune related diseases.

Compugen also announced that the Viral Peptides Discovery Platform has led to the discovery of two novel viral peptides demonstrating in in vitro studies the ability to suppress inflammatory responses.

Yossi Cohen, vice president of research and development at Compugen, said, “This is the third peptide therapeutics platform we’ve developed following our previously announced GPCR peptide ligands and DAC peptide blockers discovery platforms. Each of our three discovery platforms in the peptide therapeutics area relies on a fundamentally different methodology and demonstrates our growing strength and focus in this important field of drug discovery.”

The engine of the Viral Peptides Discovery Platform is based on the concept of utilizing the virus gained knowledge on how to subvert the human immune system. This is accomplished through the use of sophisticated algorithms and in silico tools that predict a large number of potential natural peptides produced by viruses and then select those that appear to have features suggesting anti-inflammatory activities. Validation activities for this platform included experimentally screening a number of these predicted peptides in a functional assay utilizing activated immune cells. In this validation experiment, two of the tested peptides exhibited suppression of secretion of various cytokines and chemokines suggesting anti-inflammatory properties.

The company’s previously announced GPCR Peptide Discovery Platform, the basis for its collaboration with Merck, relies on machine learning algorithms to predict and select potential human peptide ligands for GPCRs. Using an entirely different prediction and selection methodology, the DAC Blockers Discovery Platform focuses on human peptides that can block disease-related three-dimensional conformations of proteins.

Alex Kotzer, president and CEO of Compugen, said, “This is the 10th drug and diagnostic discovery platform that has now been validated and added to our growing portfolio. We are extremely pleased by our accelerating progress and confident of the significant commercial potential provided by our unique and broad discovery capabilities and the growing number of product candidates.”

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