Compugen Presents Positive Therapeutic Effects Of Novel Peptide

Compugen’s CGEN-25017, a novel peptide antagonist of the Angiopoietin/Tie-2 pathway, has shown positive therapeutic effects in an animal model of retinopathy. CGEN-25017 had previously demonstrated significant inhibitory activity in two other models of angiogenesis, an in-vitro multi-cellular assay and the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model.

In the recently completed study (utilizing a rodent model of oxygen-induced retinopathy), administration of CGEN-25017 resulted in a dramatic decrease in the extent of pathological neovascularization, outperforming the positive control, soluble Tie-2, said the company.

Anat Cohen-Dayag, co-CEO of Compugen, said: “CGEN-25017 is a novel peptide that has not only demonstrated very potent anti-angiogenic activity, but it also most likely does so by a different mechanism than known VEGF inhibitors, thus offering the possibility for increased efficacy and fewer side effects. The discovery of CGEN-25017 was made through the use of Compugen’s DAC Blockers platform, which predicts the sequences of novel peptides that may block the folding of certain proteins into their disease-associated states.

“Peptide blockers predicted by this platform have now been validated experimentally in functional assays for 11 out of 12 protein targets selected for screening. In addition to CGEN-25017, two other predicted peptides to date have also demonstrated therapeutic potential and several others are now undergoing experimental validation. The DAC Blockers platform itself is one of ten product candidate discovery platforms that have been developed and validated to date by the Company. Thus, the discovery and validation of CGEN-25017 provides an excellent perspective on the power and potential of Compugen’s unique discovery capabilities,” he added.