Compugen is “streamlining” its R&D operations to pare down costs and ensure it can afford the phase 1 study of its lead asset, an anti-PVRIG antibody it is developing for various cancers. The cuts include consolidating its R&D in Israel, cutting about 35 staffers, or 35% of its workforce, and outsourcing some of its preclinical work. The company expects to save about $10 million per year, starting in 2020.
The reorg will cut down on “overlapping” R&D work in Israel and the U.S., as well as general and administrative costs, the company said in a statement. Clinical development and business development work in the U.S. will continue.
"2018 was a pivotal year for Compugen in which two clinical trials were initiated for our computationally-discovered immuno-oncology programs, COM701 and BAY 1905254, and we partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca," said Compugen CEO Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., in the statement. "After reaching these important inflection points in our corporate development, the management team and Board undertook a strategic review of the Company's operations and cost structure to ensure effective use of capital in support of the Company's long-term objectives."
The FDA cleared Compugen’s anti-PVRIG asset, COM701, for a phase 1 study in advanced solid tumors last July. The treatment ran into a clinical hold in April, when the agency asked to see more CMC (chemistry, manufacturing and controls) information before signing off on the study. The company is testing the antibody in all comers and will expand into lung, breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers. The reorganization will enable Compugen to make this expansion, as planned, in 2019.
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The Holon, Israel-based biotech is also testing COM701 in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo. The pair teamed up in October, with the Big Pharma investing $12 million upfront as part of a deal that gives it the right to first negotiations for the COM701 license. Compugen is funding the COM701/Opdivo trial in breast, ovarian, endometrial and non-small cell lung cancers, while Bristol-Myers may carry out other combination trials in the future.
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In addition to advancing COM701, the Israeli biotech “will maintain investment” in its computational discovery platform and keep working on its earlier-stage immuno-oncology programs. It plans to file the IND for COM902, an anti-TIGIT antibody, in 2019. When it starts a phase 1 study of COM902 will depend on the “drug combination trials pursued under the collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb as well as available resources to support this trial,” the company said.