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HOLON, Israel, Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a pioneer in computational target discovery, announced today publication of ePosters by ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2022 (ESMO-IO), showing that Compugen's COM701 (anti-PVRIG) in dual and triple combination with nivolumab ± BMS-986207 (anti-TIGIT) demonstrated preliminary durable anti-tumor activity and immune activation in patients with platinum resistant ovarian cancer with a favorable safety and toxicity profile.
The Company plans to host an investor conference call and webcast tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at 8:30 AM ET to review this data and data from a small cohort of metastatic NSCLC patients treated with COM701 ± nivolumab planned to be presented at ESMO-IO, December 8, 2022, Geneva, Switzerland. ePosters are available today on the ESMO-IO virtual platform, in the e-Poster section and the publication section of Compugen's website.
"There are few effective and tolerable treatment options for patients with platinum resistant ovarian cancer," said John W. Moroney, M.D., Associate Professor of Gynecologic Oncology in the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago. "It is both exciting and a privilege to see heavily pre-treated, chemotherapy refractory patients experience durable responses with this novel PVRIG/TIGIT/PD-1 immune checkpoint targeting combination. We observed deep and durable responses with minimal toxicity. For example, several of our responders continue to maintain full-time employment of more than 6 months into their enrollment. I'm interested in participating in further clinical development of this targeted combination."
Oladapo Yeku, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of Translational Research, Gynecologic Oncology Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, added, "It is encouraging to see anti-tumor activity in these heavily pretreated heterogeneous platinum resistant ovarian cancer patients, with a disease control rate of 45% following both dual and triple combination treatment. The combination of drugs was well tolerated with a favorable safety profile consistent with what has previously been reported for COM701 with nivolumab ± BMS-986207. Because of the anti-tumor activity and tolerability of the combination, our patients on the study reported an improvement in quality of life. I look forward to seeing the further development of COM701 combinations in patients with platinum resistant ovarian cancer."
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President, and CEO of Compugen, continued, "I am delighted to see that patients with hard-to-treat tumor types, who typically do not respond to or show low response rates to immunotherapy, gain benefit from COM701 as part of a dual and triple combination regimen. In November this year at the SITC conference, we presented anti-tumor activity with responses in MSS-CRC patients with liver metastases, with a clear support of a COM701 mediated effect. Today we published compelling responses from preliminary data in platinum resistant ovarian cancer patients, including a patient who had 7 prior lines of treatment and progressed on nivolumab, and on this study experienced a confirmed partial response after treatment with the dual combination of COM701 and nivolumab. In addition, 3 patients responded to triple combination therapy who are ongoing on study treatment for at least 9 months, including a patient with more than 90% reduction in tumor target lesions."
Dr. Cohen-Dayag, added, "The data suggest a COM701 mediated mechanism of action, which could lead to the responses demonstrated by COM701 combinations. We have demonstrated that PVRIG blockade is associated with driving T cells into the tumor microenvironment, potentially sensitizing the tumors to PD-1 and/or TIGIT blockade and inducing a potent immune activation generally less typical with checkpoint inhibitors in such tumor types. While it is challenging to compare efficacy of the triple and dual combination arms given the small number of patients, the increase in response rate combined with the duration of response does suggest greater benefit with triple treatment, in line with our pre-clinical and translational clinical data. While the studies, including the biomarker and translational work, are still ongoing, the totality of the data, consisting of the disease control rates, the durability of responses, the supportive translational data, and the favorable safety profile, are encouraging considering these hard-to-treat cancers in which the patients have been extensively pretreated. We are looking forward to discussing the data being presented at ESMO-IO, during our investor call tomorrow, December 7, 2022."
Next Steps
Based on the data reported in the different studies, Compugen is planning to pursue two studies, with the purpose to strengthen the data it has already published and to build a path to future registration studies:
Compugen expects to share initial findings by the end of 2023.
The ePosters are published today on the ESMO-IO virtual platform in the e-Poster section, and the publication section of Compugen's website.
To access the Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 8:30 am ET live investor conference call by telephone, please dial 1-866-744-5399 from the U.S., or +972-3-918-0644 internationally. The call will be available via live webcast through Compugen's website, located at the following link. Following the live webcast, a replay will be available on the Company's website.
Background
Key findings from poster: "Triple blockade of the DNAM-axis with COM701 + BMS-986207 + nivolumab demonstrates preliminary antitumor activity in patients with platinum resistant OVCA." (NCT04570839), with a cut-off date of November 23, 2022, include:
