Compugen makes money from TIGIT
It’s remarkable, given the litany of failures associated with anti-TIGIT antibodies, that there’s still money to be made from the mechanism. That’s the trick Compugen pulled off last week when it extracted $65m from AstraZeneca relating to rights to rilvegostomig, Astra’s anti-TIGIT x PD-1 MAb. This bispecific is based on Compugen’s monospecific anti-TIGIT MAb COM902, and Astra is developing it under a 2018 alliance that was one of the first covering the TIGIT mechanism. In return for $65m the latest deal reduces future rilvegostomig royalties Compugen stands to receive from Astra. After the deprioritisation of Arcus/Gilead’s domvanalimab this month rilvegostomig is the last major TIGIT project still in active development, with an amazing 11 pivotal studies still ongoing. This shows remarkable enthusiasm from Astra, but in spite of this rilvegostomig is seen as likely to fail, so Compugen has executed a smart move; the biotech gets immediate cash, and eliminates the now extremely long shot of more cash later. Of course, $65m is small fry compared with the billions spent on developing TIGIT projects including Roche’s tiragolumab and Merck & Co’s vibostolimab, and the $1.4bn Gilead has paid Arcus in TIGIT-related deals.
Key deals involving TIGIT projects
| Deal date | Source | Licensor | Description | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2018 | Compugen | AstraZeneca | Development of multispecific MAbs that led to rilvegostomig (based on Compugen’s Fc-reduced anti-TIGIT MAb COM902) | $10m up front |
| May 2020 | Arcus | Gilead | Option over several Arcus projects, including anti-TIGIT MAbs domvanalimab (Fc-silent) & AB308 (Fc-competent) | $175m up front + $200m equity investment |
| Jun 2021 | iTeos | GSK | Co-development/co-commercialisation of iTeos’s anti-TIGIT MAb belrestotug; project discontinued in May 2025, iTeos was liquidated | $625m up front |
| Nov 2021 | Arcus | Gilead | Gilead exercised option over three Arcus projects, including anti-TIGIT MAbs domvanalimab & AB308; Gilead dropped AB308 in Feb 2024 | $725m up front |
| Dec 2021 | BeiGene (now known as BeOne) | Novartis | Option over a full licensing deal for ociperlimab; Novartis declined to exercise this option in Jul 2023; BeOne discontinued the project in Apr 2025 | $300m up front |
| Jan 2024 | Arcus | Gilead | Domvanalimab focus amended; project deprioritised in Dec 2025 | $320m equity investment |
| Dec 2025 | Compugen | AstraZeneca | Compugen sold part of its downstream interest in rilvegostomig | $65m up front |
Source: OncologyPipeline.
