With Nike Shares Near a 12-Year Low, Is Now the Time to Be Brave?<\/a><\/p>\nOphir said Compugen previously treated \u201clast-line platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients\u201d and saw clinical results with COM701 both as monotherapy and in combination, with \u201cvery durable responses with excellent safety\u201d among responders. Building from those signals, the company is now focusing on a platinum-sensitive maintenance setting in the MAIA-ovarian trial. He described subtrial one as a randomized study of COM701 monotherapy versus placebo in 60 patients who responded to chemotherapy, with a readout expected in Q1 2027. Ophir said there is \u201cno standard of care for this patient population\u201d and that the goal is to prolong progression-free survival by extending the response period after chemotherapy.<\/p>\n
For AstraZeneca\u2019s rilvegostomig, Ophir said the program is advancing across 11 phase III trials and 14 phase I or II trials in multiple indications and combinations. He argued that the bispecific format\u2014binding PD-1 with one arm and TIGIT with the other\u2014may be a differentiator versus prior TIGIT efforts. Citing AstraZeneca translational ex vivo work using patient tumors, he said AstraZeneca has shown cooperative binding and higher activity than PD-1 alone, and \u201ceven more active than\u201d a PD-1\/TIGIT two-drug combination in that system. He also pointed to what he characterized as a comprehensive clinical strategy, including combinations with antibody-drug conjugates such as Enhertu and Dato-DXd, and trial designs that he said appear informed by \u201cmistakes of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compugen also discussed its IL-18 binding protein program, previously known as COM503 and now referred to as GS-0321 following the licensing agreement with Gilead. Ophir described the approach as \u201cfirst-in-class,\u201d seeking to address cytokine development challenges by \u201cinhibiting the inhibitor\u201d rather than administering recombinant cytokines. He said the company\u2019s strategy leverages naturally high IL-18 in the tumor microenvironment that is blocked by IL-18 binding protein, with the goal of modulating activity \u201conly the tumor and not the periphery,\u201d which he said could improve the therapeutic window based on preclinical data. He said the phase I study began with the first patient dosed at the beginning of 2025, and that Compugen is running the ongoing phase I trial while Gilead will take the program into later-stage trials.<\/p>\n
Ophir detailed financial terms and positioning. For the AstraZeneca collaboration, he said Compugen has received $95 million to date and is eligible for an additional $195 million in milestones. He added that AstraZeneca had \u201cpreviously predicted more than $5 billion\u201d in peak sales for rilvegostomig and that Compugen could be eligible for \u201cup to mid-single digits\u201d royalties.<\/p>\n
For the Gilead deal, Ophir said Compugen has received $90 million to date for the IL-18 binding protein program licensed at the preclinical stage, and is eligible for an additional $758 million in milestones and \u201cup to low double digits\u201d royalties.<\/p>\n
Ophir also said Compugen ended 2025 with \u201cmore than $145 million\u201d in cash and that this balance should allow the company to continue operations \u201cwithout any further potential milestones\u201d through 2029.<\/p>\n
In the Q&A, Blum asked why PD-1 inhibitors have achieved broader activity than many newer IO agents. Ophir said PD-1 responders often have baseline inflammation and T cells in the tumor microenvironment, and that patients whose tumors are not \u201cprone to respond to IO\u201d often do not benefit even from combinations. He noted TIGIT showed activity in randomized studies but not enough to succeed in phase III, while LAG-3 achieved approval in melanoma with a \u201cproperly designed trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blum also asked whether TIGIT programs may have failed due to study design. Ophir pointed to \u201cFc-active TIGIT\u201d antibodies as a factor, arguing that safety issues and discontinuation rates could erode modest efficacy. He said factors such as drug format, combinations, and trial design are \u201ccritically important,\u201d and noted that some AstraZeneca phase III trials include head-to-head comparisons versus Keytruda and selection by PD-L1 status.<\/p>\n
On Compugen\u2019s decision to study COM701 in platinum-sensitive maintenance rather than the more common path from platinum-resistant disease, Ophir said the company wanted to move earlier to patients with a less compromised immune system and lower tumor burden after chemotherapy, describing it as giving COM701 \u201cthe opportunity\u201d to extend responses given its safety profile.<\/p>\n
Blum asked why AstraZeneca pursued a bispecific rather than combining separate PD-1 and TIGIT agents. Ophir said cooperative binding may improve activity versus two-drug combinations and also can simplify clinical strategy, adding that safety \u201cuntil now seems quite similar to PD-1 blockers alone.\u201d He cited trial examples where rilvegostomig is used as an IO backbone in combinations, including comparisons of rilvegostomig plus an ADC versus Keytruda.<\/p>\n
Ophir closed by reiterating Compugen\u2019s intent to use its computational platform and financial resources to expand its pipeline while its partnered programs advance toward potential later-stage outcomes.<\/p>\n
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) is a clinical-stage therapeutic discovery company that leverages proprietary computational discovery platforms to identify novel immuno-oncology targets and biomarkers. The company combines large-scale biological datasets with machine learning algorithms to generate and validate new therapeutic and diagnostic candidates. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Compugen also maintains a presence in the United States to support its clinical development and commercial collaborations.<\/p>\n
Compugen’s predictive discovery engine scans complex biological systems in silico to reveal previously unrecognized pathways and immune checkpoints involved in cancer progression.<\/p>\n
The article “Compugen Highlights AI-Driven IO Pipeline, Key Trial Timelines and Big Pharma Partnerships at Needham Conference<\/a>” was originally published by MarketBeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Compugen logo Compugen leverages its AI-driven discovery engine, Unigen, to identify novel immuno-oncology targets and advance select assets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[46701,185881,114,185879,185880,185884,185883,26244,85,46,185882,11138],"class_list":{"0":"post-390189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-astrazeneca","9":"tag-binding-protein","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-compugen","12":"tag-computational-discovery","13":"tag-computational-engine","14":"tag-discovery-engine","15":"tag-gilead","16":"tag-il","17":"tag-israel","18":"tag-needham-company","19":"tag-ovarian-cancer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Compugen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ab9e89bedad68173987f0033617012fe.png\")
Compugen logo <\/p>\n