Compugen Ltd., a company focused on predictive discovery and development of therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy, has advanced COM902, its lead anti-TIGIT antibody, into manufacturing for an investigational new drug (IND) application anticipated in 2019.
 
The company has entered into a process development and manufacturing service agreement with Bayer to produce COM902 for future use in clinical trials.
 
Sunil Gupta, the vice president of Biological Development at Bayer, said, “As a company with long-standing advanced biologics manufacturing experience and a commitment to advancing novel cancer therapies, we collaborate with a few select partners to develop and manufacture their own pipeline programs. Compugen has been a valued partner for Bayer and we look forward to working with the Compugen team to produce and prepare COM902 for clinical testing.”
 
Anat Cohen-Dayag Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Compugen, added, “The development of COM902 will allow us to address various drug combination possibilities of COM701, which can potentially offer significant therapeutic value for cancer patients. We are delighted to enter this service agreement with Bayer for the manufacture of COM902, and to benefit from their expertise and the quality of their cGMP operations.”