Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ:CGEN) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Henry Adewoye: No. Thank you, Anat. You’ve covered it all.

Anat Cohen-Dayag: Okay. Thanks.

Operator: The next question is from Asthika Goonewardene of Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

Asthika Goonewardene: Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I’m going to build on the questions that Stephen asked here. So for the update that we’re getting for platinum resistant ovarian cancer by year-end, I know the expectation is the initial data. Can you just clarify what kind of efficacy data will we see in that presentation? And is it still right to assume that this is going to be kind of more as an investor update and not a medical meeting update for the presentation of this year?

Anat Cohen-Dayag: It will be an investor update and not a medical conference update from the 2 new proof-of-concept studies that we do, yes. We tend to present data in medical conferences from studies that are more completed, where we have more insights, yes.

Asthika Goonewardene: Okay. And then there’s a question about what efficacy data will be in these 2 updates. Just want to try and tease out if there’s going to be confirmed scan or if it’s just a preliminary scan, or should we set different expectations?

Anat Cohen-Dayag: Henry, would you like to address this?

Henry Adewoye: Yes, Anat. Thank you. The earliest lead out one can get for this patient population will be response rates. We obviously will be interested also in looking at other important clinical endpoints, such as duration of response or possibly the progression-free survival. Now, that being said, this will depend on enrollment and our ability to catch up like we think we will be able to – we project we’ll be able to do. But those are the key endpoints, the most important being response rates.

Asthika Goonewardene: Got it. And then on the issue with the delays, I totally appreciate that there’s some personal restrictions and some change to IRBs, et cetera, happening. I’m just wondering, is there any impact of the ADC launch in platinum resistant ovarian cancers, also maybe causing any delays here. And then related to that, have you seen any delays in recruitment for the colorectal study?

Anat Cohen-Dayag: Henry?

Henry Adewoye: Thank you, Asthika. In speaking with the investigators and all the sites that we have, we haven’t observed or they haven’t reported back to us that the ADCs have contributed meaningfully to the delay that we’ve just highlighted. Now, as you recall, Asthika, the ADC that we’re talking about here is mirvetuximab, which has accelerated approval in platinum resistant ovarian cancer that has not been the communication we received back. And that accelerated approval is also in a restricted biomarker limited population folate receptor alpha positive patient population. So that has not been a part of the reason for the minimal delay that we’ve disclosed.

Asthika Goonewardene: Got it. And just also want to double check there’s been no delays on the colorectal side, right? Obviously, there’s no competing product there. But is that recruiting well as well, guys?

Henry Adewoye: The sites that we have recruiting well with colorectal cancer, as you know, the patient population with microsatellite stable colorectal cancer is a very undeserved one. There are lots of patients, unfortunately, that are in need of newer therapies for microsatellite stable colorectal cancer and we haven’t experienced that much of a significant delay with that population.

Asthika Goonewardene: Excellent. Thanks so much for taking my questions, guys. Thank you.

Operator: The next question is from Daina Graybosch of Leerink Partners. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi. This is [Jeff Lars] [ph] on for Daina. Thanks for taking our question. I guess the first is, what do you hope to show the breast cancer update that will be supportive of your plans and strategy in ovarian cancer and MSS CRC? And for the initial – I mean, updated translational initial biomarker data in PROC with Bristol’s TIGIT. How comparable is this dataset to your own study with your TIGIT? Any differences there you could point to? And regarding the ASCO data, in HCC, was that a tumor type that you sort of predicted would be amenable to PVRIG blockade? And what’s your interest in that indication? Thank you.