Compugen
Announces Licensing of its Z4000 System for Proteomic Research to
Organon and Procter & Gamble
Tel Aviv, Israel –
November 6, 2002 – Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN)
announced today that Organon and Procter & Gamble have licensed its
Z4000™ fully automated system for accurately designing, analyzing, and
controlling large scale 2D-gel experiments for proteomic research. In
addition, the Company announced the introduction of version 3.0 of its
Z3 2D-gel analysis system. The new version includes, among other
features, clustering capabilities, which enable researchers to better
understand protein pathways for drug discovery and development.
Z4000,
launched in February 2002, is based on advanced computational
technologies, enabling the management and analysis of large-scale
protein experiments. Z4000 is Compugen’s high-end solution for fast
and accurate comparison of 2D-gels and organization of multidimensional
gel collections.
Feng
Wang, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals,
stated, "the Z4000 system provides us with the capability to
comprehensively manage and analyze multidimensional 2D-gel experiments
much more efficiently."
“Following
the success of our Z3 system for 2D-gel analysis, and the growing demand
for large scale solutions, we introduced Z4000. Since its launch, Z4000
has been enthusiastically received by life science researchers
worldwide. The product was chosen as the preferred 2D-gel analysis
solution by leading pharmaceutical companies such as Organon, Pfizer and
Procter & Gamble. Z4000 is one of Compugen’s many products and
services, which brings computational modeling into life science
research. The licensing of this product by market leaders validates its
contribution to the drug discovery and development process,” said Erez
Chimovits, President of Compugen’s BioApplications Division.
Proteomic
research is essential for target discovery and drug development. 2D-gel
electrophoresis is currently the method of choice for separating complex
mixtures of proteins, the first step in the typical proteomic research
workflow. Large-scale 2D-gel experiments are used to enable the study of
multiple proteomes and allow for higher accuracy through repeat runs of
gels sharing similar conditions. Large-scale studies, however, typically
consist of hundreds to thousands of gels, and it is impractical to
analyze the vast numbers of gel images using traditional computer
programs.
Z4000
addresses this limitation by managing and automating the analysis
process of large-scale 2D-gel experiments through the use of proprietary
algorithms for both gel comparisons and the computation of differential
expression of proteins in multidimensional gel collections. In doing so,
the Z4000 system offers a solution to a common bottleneck, imposed by
constraints of time and computational resources, for scientists
undertaking large-scale studies. Z4000 allows researchers to design the
experiment, control its progress and accurately analyze large sets of
gels. It employs advanced data mining tools that extract meaningful,
precise and statistically robust data in an organized manner, while
retaining a simple and intuitive user interface.
About
Compugen
Compugen (NASDAQ: CGEN)
is a pioneer in the merging of computational technologies with biology,
chemistry and medicine to enhance drug discovery and development. This
unique capability is a proven basis for providing high value products
and services to leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and
for in-house discovery. For additional information, please visit
Compugen's corporate Website at www.cgen.com
.
This
press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements include words like "may,"
"expects," "believes," and "intends," and
describe opinions about future events. These forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of Compugen to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed
or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are:
changes in relationships with collaborators; the impact of competitive
products and technological changes; risks relating to the development of
new products; the ability to implement technological improvements; the
ability of Compugen to obtain and retain customers. These and other
factors are identified and more fully explained under the heading
"Risk Factors" in Compugen's Registration Statement on Form
F-1 and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
--
Tsipi Haitovsky
Director, Corporate Communications
Compugen Ltd.
72 Pinchas Rosen Street, Tel-Aviv 69512, Israel
---------------------------------------------------------
Tel: +972-3-765-8585
Direct: +972-3-765-8120
Cel: +972-56-371224
Fax: +972-3-765-8555
Email: tsipi@cgen.com
Web Site: www.cgen.com
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