Date: 2011-12-13
Type of information: Collaboration agreement
Compound: Compugen-discovered drug candidates including the three peptides CGEN-855, CGEN-856 (now BL-7060) and CGEN-25017 (now BL-8010)
Company: BiolineRx (Israel) Compugen (Israel)
Therapeutic area: Inflammatory diseases - Cardiovascular diseases - Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: collaboration
development
commercialisation
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On December 13, 2011, BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, and Compugen, a drug discovery company, have entered into a collaboration agreement for the purpose of developing and commercializing mutually selected Compugen-discovered drug candidates for the treatment of various diseases, ranging from acute and chronic inflammatory diseases through cardiac diseases, retinopathy and cancer. According to the agreement, Compugen will provide promising drug candidates, primarily peptides, which were identified using its predictive drug discovery platforms, while BioLineRx will develop these candidates through Phase II clinical trials, with the goal of ultimately licensing them to pharmaceutical companies for advanced clinical development and commercialization.
The collaboration has been initiated with the mutual selection of three Compugen-discovered peptides. Two of the peptides, named CGEN-855 and CGEN-856, have already undergone proof of concept animal studies and will enter BioLineRx’s main product pipeline as BL-7060. These peptides will focus on preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases by controlling inflammation and reducing hypertension. The third peptide, CGEN-25017, which has also undergone proof of concept animal studies, will enter BioLineRx’s pipeline as BL-8010, and is intended for the treatment of diseases characterized by excessive growth of new blood vessels, such as retinopathy and cancer. In addition, the parties will continue to evaluate other Compugen-discovered drug candidates for development by BioLineRx.
CGEN-855 is a novel peptide agonist of the FPRL1 G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR). FPRL1 is expressed by various immune system cells, and its activation promotes resolution of inflammation, leading to pronounced anti-inflammatory activity. Accordingly, CGEN-855 has shown anti-inflammatory activity when tested in animal models of acute inflammation and has exhibited a cardioprotective effect in models of acute myocardial infarction in mice and rats. CGEN-855 was also shown to be beneficial in an animal model of inflammatory bowel disease.
CGEN-856 is a novel ligand of the MAS GPCR receptor, one of the key components of the renin-angiotensin system which controls blood pressure and water balance in the body. CGEN-856 induced relaxation of rat and murine aortas, reduced in vivo cardiac remodeling induced by isoproterenol or ischemia, and displayed anti-hypertensive effects as well as cardiac and renal anti-fibrotic effects. CGEN-856 may thus be a useful therapeutic agent in conditions such as hypertension, heart failure, cardiac remodeling, myocardial infarction, renal fibrosis and other cardiovascular pathologies.
CGEN-25017 is a novel peptide antagonist of the Angiopoietin/Tie-2 pathway which is crucial for angiogenesis, blood vessel maturation, and vascular endothelium integrity. The peptide has shown positive therapeutic effects in an animal model of retinopathy, a retinal disease which is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world, and is characterized by ocular angiogenesis, i.e. overgrowth of blood vessels in the retina. CGEN-25017 had previously demonstrated significant inhibitory activity in an animal model of retinopathy and in two other models of angiogenesis. Based on its anti-angiogenic properties, CGEN-25017 has potential therapeutic utility for additional diseases involving pathological angiogenesis such as cancer and inflammatory conditions, including psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.
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