The new targets were discovered using the company's computational platform for finding drug targets for monoclonal antibodies, and were then verified by experimental methods
Compugen announced the discovery of over 10 unique targets for drug antibodies for various types of epithelial cancers and blood cancers. The new targets were discovered using the company's computational platform for finding drug targets for monoclonal antibodies, and were then verified using experimental methods. In addition, the company announces that five of these ten targets have been selected for the purpose of continuing experimental tests, in order to prove the potential of their use.
This set of new targets opens up an opportunity to accelerate the development of monoclonal antibody-type biopharmaceuticals for a wide range of oncological diseases, such as ovarian cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, multiple myeloma, acute leukemia or chronic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. All of these targets are molecules found on the cell membrane, which show differences in their RNA expression level when compared between cancerous and healthy samples. In addition to this, some of these molecules are alternative splices, the existence of which was predicted by Compugen's LEADS platform. This group of molecules is problematic to discover using traditional research methodologies.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Daig, VP for Diagnostic Markers and Medicinal Targets states: "Monoclonal antibody drugs are the fastest growing segment of the drug market, with the potential to develop improved drugs to treat a variety of life-threatening diseases. Furthermore, this market segment is characterized by faster discovery-development-commercialization processes and with higher chances of success in clinical trials, and has become the main focus of interest for the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, our unique platform for finding drug targets for monoclonal antibodies is a very valuable asset to the company, and we are happy to continue to develop its ability to identify valuable new targets. We look forward to continuing to use this platform both in the company's internal discovery processes, and in cooperation with partners."
About the discovery platform for new drug targets for monoclonal antibodies
Over the past two decades, monoclonal antibodies have emerged as an important market segment with a rapid growth rate in the pharmaceutical world. Monoclonal antibodies have the ability to bind to certain cells - such as cancer cells - and can be used to stimulate the patient's immune system in order to attack these cells, target a toxin to these cells or block the activity of certain cell receptors.
Currently, monoclonal antibodies are approved for medicinal use in oncology, transplantation, chronic inflammation, infectious disease, and cardiovascular disease. Despite the great progress in the field in recent years, one of the main challenges in the field remains the discovery and verification of new targets.
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