Shares of Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN) rose 12.8% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company unveiled a strategic agreement with AstraZeneca to monetize part of its future royalty stream tied to the cancer therapy rilvegostomig.
Under the non-dilutive arrangement, Compugen will receive an upfront payment of $65 million, with the potential to earn an additional $25 million upon achievement of the next development milestone. The Israel-based clinical-stage immuno-oncology company will continue to retain the majority of its future royalty interests and remains eligible for tiered royalties of up to the mid-single digits on future sales. In addition, Compugen could receive regulatory and commercial milestone payments totaling up to $195 million.
Rilvegostomig is a first-in-class dual-checkpoint bispecific antibody designed to simultaneously block PD-1 and TIGIT on the same immune effector cell. AstraZeneca is currently progressing the therapy through 11 Phase 3 clinical trials targeting lung, gastrointestinal and endometrial cancers.
“This strategic agreement with AstraZeneca reflects the potential significant value of rilvegostomig and Compugen’s differentiated Fc-reduced approach to TIGIT inhibition,” said Eran Ophir, President and CEO of Compugen. The company said the transaction is expected to extend its cash runway through 2029, assuming no additional sources of funding.
The TIGIT component of rilvegostomig originates from Compugen’s wholly owned COM902 program, which is one of only two Fc-reduced anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibodies currently in clinical-stage development.