Merck Serono, a division of Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, and Compugen have announced the establishment of a new biomarker company, Neviah Genomics.
Neviah Genomics, which is the first company to be funded within the framework of Merck Serono's Israel Bioincubator program, is expected to focus on the discovery and development of novel biomarkers for drug toxicity.
Compugen will utilize certain proprietary predictive discovery technologies and receive an equity ownership in the new company and a right to royalties from potential future sales.
Further financial details of the agreement have been kept confidential.
Compugen president and CEO Anat Cohen-Dayag said the company is the first to benefit from the establishment of Merck Serono's Israel Bioincubator.
"Furthermore, the formation of Neviah Genomics on a 'discovery on demand' basis enables Compugen to both continue its focus on therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins in the fields of immunology and oncology, and provide potential future benefits for our shareholders from our equity interest in Neviah and royalties from future product sales," Cohen-Dayag added.
