Compugen initiated with a Buy at Lake Street

Lake Street analyst Chad Messer initiated coverage of Compugen (CGEN) with a Buy rating and $6 price target. After high-profile Phase 3 failures from Roche (RHHBY), Merck (MRK), Gilead (GILD), and GSK (GSK), Compugen and AstraZeneca (AZN) now remain the only players with a TIGIT design that addresses the class’s historical flaws, the analyst tells investors. Compugen’s TIGIT component utilizes a unique Fc-reduced architecture engineered to maintain high affinity while preventing the depletion of effector T-cells, “the very killers needed to fight the tumor,” the analyst added.