Compugen Ltd. (CGEN): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) is a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, but how does a business with reported Q3 2025 revenue of only $1.9 million maintain a market capitalization around $151.5 million? The answer lies in their predictive AI/ML-powered discovery platform and a pipeline that includes assets like COM701 and partnered programs with AstraZeneca and Gilead, which carry over $1 billion in potential milestones and royalties. You need to understand the volatile, milestone-driven model of a biotech with a cash runway into Q3 2027 to truly assess its value, so let's break down the history, core mission, and exactly how Compugen makes money.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) History

You're looking for the bedrock of Compugen Ltd., and honestly, you need to understand its history to appreciate the company's current clinical-stage focus. It didn't start as an immuno-oncology firm; it began as a computational powerhouse. The story is one of a calculated, multi-decade pivot from a service provider to a drug developer, a move that only a few biotech firms successfully pull off.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

Compugen Ltd. was established in 1993.

Original location

The company was founded and remains headquartered in Holon, Israel. It also maintains offices in South San Francisco, CA.

Founding team members

The company was founded by three individuals: Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler, and Amir Natan. Mintz conceived the initial idea in 1991, recognizing that the sheer volume of genomics data was outpacing computers' ability to process it efficiently.

Initial capital/funding

While the exact initial seed capital is not public, Compugen has raised a total funding of approximately $35.4 million across five rounds, including early venture capital and a later post-IPO round. This capital supported its evolution from a service model to a drug discovery firm. The company went public on the NASDAQ in August 2000.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The most defintely transformative moment for Compugen was the strategic pivot in 2010. Before this, the company was essentially a software and service vendor, selling its predictive computational biology tools to pharmaceutical giants like Novartis and Pfizer.

The decision to transition into a clinical-stage drug development company changed everything. It meant shifting from a low-margin service model to a high-risk, high-reward biopharma model. This move converted their proprietary computational power-their ability to identify novel drug targets-from a service offering into their core intellectual property for internal drug development.

• The Immuno-Oncology Focus: Specializing in immuno-oncology was crucial, targeting the most lucrative and high-impact area of cancer treatment. This focus led to the discovery of novel immune checkpoint regulators, which are now the basis of their clinical pipeline.
• Strategic Licensing Deals: The partnerships with major players like AstraZeneca and Gilead Sciences are a significant financial and scientific validation. These collaborations offer Compugen over $1 billion in potential milestone payments and tiered royalties, providing a vital, non-dilutive funding source for a development-stage company.
• 2025 Financial Stability: As of Q2 2025, the company held approximately $93.9 million in cash and marketable securities, giving them a projected cash runway into 2027. This financial cushion is critical, allowing them to fund the COM701 maintenance trial and other early-stage pipeline programs without immediate pressure to raise capital, a key de-risking factor for investors. For a deeper look at the numbers, you can check out Breaking Down Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Here's the quick math: The shift to owning the drug development process, validated by big pharma partnerships and a strong cash position in 2025, is what truly defines the company's trajectory today.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Ownership Structure

You need to know who is really steering the ship at Compugen Ltd., and the quick answer is that while institutional money is present, the shareholder base is heavily weighted toward the public float. This structure means retail and individual investors hold significant sway, but the company's direction is still set by a seasoned executive team and a Board with deep scientific expertise.

Given Company's Current Status

Compugen Ltd. is a publicly traded, clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, dual-listed on the NASDAQ Global Market (CGEN) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization stands at approximately $154.33 million. Being a clinical-stage biotech, its valuation is heavily tied to pipeline progress, which is why its Q3 2025 net loss of approximately $6.98 million is less of a shock than the fact that it maintains a strong cash position of about $86.1 million, expected to fund operations into Q3 2027.

The firm's public status means its governance is subject to rigorous reporting requirements, giving you a clear view of its financial health and leadership changes, like the recent executive shuffle in September 2025. This transparency is defintely a plus for any investor. You can dive deeper into the major players here: Exploring Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The ownership structure shows a high concentration of shares in the hands of the general public, which is common for smaller-cap biotech firms. Institutional ownership is notable but not dominant, meaning large block trades from funds can still cause significant stock price movements. Here's the quick math on the breakdown as of November 2025, based on the latest SEC-related filings:

Given Company's Leadership

The leadership team, which underwent key transitions in September and November 2025, is primarily composed of long-tenured company veterans and new scientific leaders, bringing a blend of institutional knowledge and fresh expertise.

The core team is focused on advancing the clinical pipeline, especially their immuno-oncology programs like COM701 and COM902. This is a science-driven company, so the leadership is heavy on Ph.D.s. The September 2025 transition saw a key shift in oversight, which is important.

• Eran Ophir, Ph.D.: President and Chief Executive Officer (appointed September 2025).
• Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D.: Executive Chair of the Board of Directors (transitioned September 2025).
• David Silberman: Chief Financial Officer.
• Pierre Ferre, Ph.D., Dr. Vet. Med.: Chief Operating Officer (appointed 2025).
• Sharon Kredo-Russo, Ph.D.: Senior Vice President, Research & Discovery (joined November 2025).
• Zurit Levine, Ph.D.: Senior Vice President, Business Development (appointed 2025).

The former CEO, Anat Cohen-Dayag, moving to Executive Chair means she is still focused on corporate strategy and investor relations, but Eran Ophir, a scientist who has been with Compugen for nearly a decade, is now running the day-to-day. That's a clear signal: the focus is now squarely on clinical execution.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Mission and Values

Compugen Ltd. is fundamentally driven by a mission to transform cancer treatment by pioneering new drug targets, using its advanced computational platform to deliver real breakthroughs for patients. The company's core values center on scientific rigor, persistence in tackling tough biological challenges, and a clear focus on patient benefit over incremental therapy gains.

Compugen Ltd.'s Core Purpose

You see a company like Compugen Ltd. and you realize their purpose is mapped directly to their technology-it's about using predictive power to solve problems others can't. Their strategy is crystal clear: it's rooted in science and focused squarely on patients, a necessary mindset when you're burning cash on R&D. For instance, their R&D expenses for Q3 2025 were approximately $5.8 million, which shows their commitment to the science. This is a company betting big on innovation to deliver significant value.

Here's the quick math: they are a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company, so their value is in their pipeline. Their work identifies novel drug targets and biological pathways in cancer immunotherapy, specifically aiming to extend the reach of current treatments to new patient populations. Exploring Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Official Mission Statement

While a single, formal sentence is rare in this stage of biotech, Compugen Ltd.'s operational mission is to be a pioneer in computational drug target discovery, leveraging its AI/ML-powered platform to create first-in-class and best-in-class cancer immunotherapies. This is a defintely high-risk, high-reward approach.

• Identify Novel Targets: Use the proprietary Unigen™ computational discovery platform (a fancy term for their predictive AI/Machine Learning engine) to find new drug targets.
• Develop Cancer Immunotherapies: Advance proprietary product candidates like COM701 (anti-PVRIG) and COM902 (anti-TIGIT) through clinical trials for solid tumors.
• Deliver Real Breakthroughs: Commit to developing innovative therapies that are not just incremental improvements over existing treatments.

Vision Statement

The company's vision is to fundamentally change the cancer treatment landscape by providing novel, effective options for patients who currently have limited choices. This vision is supported by the potential for massive financial upside if their programs succeed, like the up to $758 million in milestone payments and tiered royalties they are eligible to receive from their licensing agreement with Gilead.

• Expand Immunotherapy Reach: Focus on new mechanisms to activate the immune system against cancer, providing benefit to new patient populations.
• Validate Computational Discovery: Prove that their AI/ML-powered platform can consistently and reliably deliver novel, clinically viable drug candidates.
• Achieve Clinical Momentum: Translate deep expertise in TIGIT biology and other pathways into positive clinical data.

Compugen Ltd. Slogan/Tagline

The company distills its complex, technology-driven process into a simple, powerful phrase that captures the entire drug development journey.

• From Code to Cure®: This tagline emphasizes the journey from their computational (code) discovery platform to a life-saving therapy (cure) for patients.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) How It Works

Compugen Ltd. operates as a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, but its core value driver is its proprietary, predictive computational discovery platform, Unigen™, which identifies novel drug targets. The company delivers value by advancing its own pipeline of first-in-class therapeutic candidates and by licensing its discovered targets and antibodies to major pharmaceutical partners like AstraZeneca and Gilead, generating revenue through milestone and royalty payments.

You're looking at a classic biotech model: high-risk, high-reward. The company's near-term funding comes from its cash balance of approximately $86.1 million as of September 30, 2025, and from license revenue, which was about $1.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, so maintaining that cash runway is defintely the immediate focus. For a deeper dive into the numbers, check out Breaking Down Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Compugen's pipeline focuses on novel immune checkpoints, which are essentially the brakes on the body's immune response to cancer. Their strategy is to release those brakes in a way that is complementary to existing treatments, like PD-1 inhibitors.

Given Company's Operational Framework

The operational framework is centered on a lean, high-tech discovery engine coupled with strategic outsourcing for clinical development, which helps keep their internal R&D expenses manageable-around $5.8 million for Q3 2025. This model allows them to punch above their weight in the immuno-oncology space.

• Computational Target Discovery: The Unigen™ platform, powered by AI/ML, is the starting point. It analyzes vast genomic and proteomic data to predict novel immune checkpoint targets that other methods miss.
• Pre-Clinical & Early Clinical Development: Compugen focuses on validating the biological function of its novel targets and advancing the resulting antibody candidates (like COM701) through Phase 1 trials to demonstrate safety and early efficacy signals.
• Strategic Partnering: Once a candidate is validated, Compugen licenses it to global pharmaceutical companies, such as AstraZeneca and Gilead, for later-stage, expensive development. This transfers the massive cost of Phase 3 trials-like the ten ongoing for rilvegostomig-to the partner.
• Revenue Generation: Revenue is primarily non-dilutive, coming from upfront payments, research funding, and clinical/regulatory/commercial milestones from partners. Full-year 2025 estimated sales are around $6.58 million, mostly from these payments.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

Compugen's true edge isn't just in a single drug, but in its ability to consistently identify and validate novel targets. That's the real engine.

• Proprietary AI/ML Platform (Unigen™): This computational engine provides a sustainable, repeatable advantage in discovering novel, non-obvious immuno-oncology targets, giving them a head start over competitors relying on traditional methods.
• First-in-Class Pipeline Potential: Candidates like COM701 (anti-PVRIG) and GS-0321 (anti-IL-18BP) address new, distinct immune pathways, offering the potential for combination therapies that can treat patients who don't respond to standard PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors.
• Validating Big Pharma Partnerships: Licensing agreements with AstraZeneca and Gilead validate the quality of Compugen's science and provide a non-dilutive funding source with over $1 billion in potential future milestones and royalties.
• De-risked Late-Stage Programs: The advancement of rilvegostomig into ten Phase 3 trials by AstraZeneca significantly de-risks the TIGIT program and positions Compugen for substantial royalty revenue if the drug is approved.

Here's the quick math: they use a small R&D spend to find the targets, and their partners fund the massive clinical cost, which is a smart financial model for a company of this size.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) How It Makes Money

Compugen Ltd. is a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, so its revenue is not generated from product sales but almost entirely from collaboration and licensing agreements with large pharmaceutical partners. This model means the company makes money by monetizing its proprietary, AI/ML-powered discovery platform, Unigen™, to identify novel drug targets, which it then licenses out in exchange for upfront payments, milestone payments, and future royalties.

Compugen Ltd.'s Revenue Breakdown

The company's revenue is highly volatile and dependent on the timing of non-recurring milestone achievements in its partner programs, which is typical for a clinical-stage biotech. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, total revenue was approximately $5.43 million. This revenue is primarily derived from the amortization of upfront and milestone payments from its license agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc.

The 'Decreasing' trend reflects the comparison to prior periods, such as Q3 2024, which included a larger recognition of deferred revenue or a new milestone payment, showing the inherent lumpiness of this revenue model. For instance, Q3 2025 revenue was only $1.89 million, a sharp drop from approximately $17.13 million in Q3 2024.

Business Economics

Compugen's business economics are centered on high research and development (R&D) expenditure to validate its computational discovery platform (Unigen™) and proprietary drug candidates, which are then used as leverage for lucrative partnerships. The goal is to generate high-margin, non-dilutive funding via licensing deals to finance its wholly-owned pipeline, like COM701.

• Pricing Strategy: The company does not have a commercial drug, so its core 'pricing' involves negotiating the value of its intellectual property (IP) for novel targets. The partnership with Gilead on GS-0321 (formerly COM503) includes up to $758 million in potential milestone payments plus single-digit to low double-digit tiered royalties, which is the ultimate payoff.
• Burn Rate: The company's cash burn is driven by clinical trials. In Q3 2025, Research and Development (R&D) expenses were approximately $5.8 million, while General and Administrative (G&A) expenses were about $2.2 million. That's a net loss of $6.98 million for the quarter.
• Long-Term Upside: The partnership with AstraZeneca for rilvegostomig (a PD-1/TIGIT bispecific antibody) is a major long-term value driver, offering potential milestones and mid-single-digit tiered royalties on future sales, with the total potential from both AstraZeneca and Gilead exceeding $1 billion.

The financial engine is a high-risk, high-reward model. The value is in the pipeline, not the quarterly revenue. You can read more about the strategic direction in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Compugen Ltd. (CGEN).

Compugen Ltd.'s Financial Performance

As of November 2025, Compugen Ltd. maintains a solid balance sheet, which is critical for a company in the clinical development phase where cash is the lifeblood. The company's financial health is measured by its cash position and runway, not its current profitability.

• Cash Position: Compugen ended the third quarter of 2025 (September 30, 2025) with approximately $86.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. They also raised an additional net proceeds of approximately $1.6 million in October 2025 through their At-The-Market (ATM) facility.
• Cash Runway: Management projects this cash balance will be sufficient to fund operating plans into the Q3 2027, excluding any potential future milestone payments from partners. This two-year runway is a key de-risking factor.
• Net Loss: The net loss for the third quarter of 2025 was approximately $6.98 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, the net loss was approximately $21.5 million.
• Debt: The company operates with no debt, which gives them defintely more financial flexibility than many peers in the biotech space.

Here's the quick math: The full-year 2025 estimated sales are about $6.58 million, but the annual cash burn (R&D plus G&A) is significantly higher, which is why the cash runway is the most important metric right now. Finance: monitor the quarterly R&D spend against the cash runway projection.

Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Market Position & Future Outlook

Compugen Ltd. is positioned as a high-risk, high-reward bet on next-generation cancer immunotherapy (IO), leveraging its proprietary computational discovery platform to identify novel immune checkpoints. The company's value hinges on its pipeline progression, particularly the success of its wholly-owned assets, COM701 and COM902, and the potential for over $1 billion in future milestone payments from its Big Pharma partnerships with AstraZeneca and Gilead Sciences.

Competitive Landscape

In the clinical-stage biotech space, Compugen competes not on current product sales-it is a pre-revenue company-but on the perceived value of its intellectual property and pipeline. The table below uses market capitalization as a proxy for scale and investor confidence in this highly speculative sector, as direct market share is essentially 0% for all clinical-stage firms.

Opportunities & Challenges

You're looking at a company with a solid financial buffer but a long path to market, so the focus is entirely on clinical data and partnership execution. The Q3 2025 revenue of $1.89 million, though a beat, underscores the reliance on non-product income.

Industry Position

Compugen's industry standing is defined by its technology and pipeline, not its current commercial footprint. The company is a pioneer in using an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) platform, Unigen, to discover novel immune checkpoints, putting it at the forefront of IO target identification.

• Cash Runway: The company has a solid balance sheet, with approximately $86.1 million in cash and equivalents as of September 30, 2025, providing a cash runway into Q3 2027.
• Strategic Partnerships: Licensing deals with AstraZeneca and Gilead Sciences for candidates like rilvegostomig and GS-0321 validate the predictive power of their discovery platform.
• Differentiation: The strategic focus on FC-reduced anti-TIGIT antibodies, which aim to avoid the T-cell depletion seen with some FC-active competitors, offers a defintely meaningful clinical differentiator.

The market is waiting on clinical proof-of-concept for its core assets, making it a pure-play development story. You can get a deeper dive into the institutional money backing this thesis by Exploring Compugen Ltd. (CGEN) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?