News & Press

Rehovot, Israel - October, 2002 Evogene, a subsidiary of Compugen Ltd. and a pioneer in the plant biotechnology field, and Metabogal, a developer of plant-cell culture based platforms and novel bioreactor systems for large scale production of complex recombinant proteins and botanical drugs, announced an agreement for joint development of a novel platform for genetic engineering and remodeling of plant cells for the improved production of therapeutic recombinant proteins. According to the agreement, Evogene will develop and license specific products and know-how related to its EvoMoters™ promoters library to Metabogal. The promoters will be used to amplify the expression rate and yields of recombinant therapeutic proteins using Metabogal's cell culture platforms.

The two companies also announced they will collaborate to develop and introduce novel, potent DNA Regulatory Elements (DRE's), functioning as dual-sided promoters. These DRE's are expected to significantly enhance the expression rate and yield of selected recombinant proteins using Metabogal's platform technology.

In announcing the agreement, Dr. Yoseph Shaaltiel, Vice President Research and Development of Metabogal, stated: "We are delighted to establish a strategic relationship with Evogene. Evogene's leading-edge technologies and know-how in the computational genomics and molecular genomics fields covered under this agreement will position Metabogal as a leading worldwide manufacturer of inexpensive, recombinant therapeutic proteins, including antibodies. The new platform will increase our competitiveness in comparison with the existing mammalian cell based fermentation technologies, as well as in comparison to other emerging platforms such as transgenic plants (e.g. production of recombinant proteins in whole plants growing in the field or greenhouses). We anticipate a highly productive collaboration with Evogene, one that will help Metabogal to significantly improve the efficiency of Metabogal's production processes".

Dr. Rafael Meisner, Evogene's Vice President and Head of Research, stated: "At Evogene, we appreciate the technology and the commercial potential of Metabogal's platform. The low cost fermentation infrastructure based on plant cell cultures at Metabogal represents an excellent venue for demonstrating how Evogene's breakthrough discoveries and technologies in the computational genomics and molecular genomics fields can promote cost-effective, commercial-scale production and purification of complex recombinant therapeutic proteins. Per Metabogal's unique needs, Evogene shall utilize its validated inventory of thousands of DREs and promoters to specifically tailor-make those high-value DREs which are most suitable for the task of yield amplification and extraction simplification of recombinant proteins from Metabogal's plant cell cultures."

About Metabogal
Metabogal Ltd. is a privately held, Israeli-based life science company that has developed a plant-cell culture based platform and a novel bioreactor system for the large scale production of complex recombinant proteins and botanical drugs. Metabogal's plant cell based technologies and products are geared towards providing protein-based therapeutics including monoclonal antibodies. Products already expressed by Metabogal showed comparable activity to similar products derived from mammalian cell-culture. Moreover, the estimated production cost is significantly lower, and is also competitive with the production of recombinant proteins in whole plants growing in the field.

About Evogene
Evogene, a subsidiary of Compugen Ltd. , is a pioneer in the field of plant biotechnology. Evogene develops and produces superior tailor-made plants and plant biofactories for the food, crop protection and therapeutic compounds markets. Evogene's commercial products and solutions offer important added value in these markets, to expand plant performance envelopes in four major areas: improving the quantity and quality of plant output traits; significantly lowering product development and production costs; enabling effective plant cultivation under adverse climactic, environmental and low-quality irrigation conditions; and substantially reducing the traditional 10 to 25-year development cycle necessary to reach commercial scale distribution and utilization of the target crop.

Contact Information:

Ofer Haviv, CFO & COO
Evogene Ltd.
13 Gad Feinstein St.P.O. Box 2100
Rehovot 76121Israel
Tel: +972 - 8 - 931 1904
Fax: +972 - 8 - 946 6724
Mobile: +972 - 51 - 529 753
http://www.evogene.com
ofer.haviv@evogene.com


Dr. Yoseph Shaaltiel, VP R&D
Metabogal Ltd.
Industrial ZoneP.O.Box 432
Kiryat-Shemona 11013Israel
Tel: +972-4-699 7623
Fax: +972-4- 695 9719
Mobile: +972-55-670 646
http://www.metabogal.com
shaaltiel@metabogal.co.il