[January 12, 2015]

Neviah Genomics Achieves Key Development Milestone for PropheTox™ Bioassay for Early Prediction of Drug-Induced Liver Toxicity and Secures Additional Financing

Neviah Genomics announced today that it had discovered and experimentally validated a set of biomarkers for the early detection of chronic drug-induced liver toxicity. Based on these results, the company is moving toward the further development of its PropheTox™ Bioassay, targeting 2016 for its commercial introduction. Neviah Genomics was jointly established in 2012 by Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Merck, and Compugen (News - Alert), and is operating from MS Ventures' Israel Bioincubator in Yavne, Israel.

MS Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck Serono, provided the initial funding for Neviah Genomics. Following the successful achievement of certain development milestones for the Proheptox™ bioassay, MS Ventures and Compugen recently agreed to jointly finance the further validation of the assay and remaining product development costs.

Neviah Genomics focuses on the discovery and development of bioassays for the early prediction of drug induced toxicity. The company's first bioassay, PropheTox™, is tailored for the early prediction of the liver toxicity potential of a drug and is based on biomarkers identified through the use of Compugen's computational predictive discovery platforms. Early prediction of drug induced liver-toxicity addresses the growing need of the pharmaceutical industry to make assumptions about potential toxicity profiles of drug candidates and investigational products before entering costly drug development activities. The PropheTox™ Bioassay is an in vitro rat hepatocyte assay currently under development by Neviah Genomics utilizing the newly discovered and validated biomarker signature.

Simone Botti, Head of the MS Ventures' Israel Bioincubator, said, "We are very excited by the progress Neviah Genomics has made in the two years since its inception. With Neviah Genomics embedded in the Israel Bioincubator - providing access to laboratory facilities, but also offering the opportunity to challenge the product development strategy by asking critical questions from a pharmaceutical company's view - we are confident that working together, we have a great chance to turn Neviah Genomics into a leading toxicogenomics company. In addition, we are very glad to see this new joint financing as a further sign of shared commitment by our co-investors and collaboration partners at Compugen."

"It is extremely gratifying that Neviah Genomics has already met its primary goal of identifying and experimentally validating a set of biomarkers designed to predict drug-induced liver toxicity," stated Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D., President and CEO of Compugen, "and we look forward to continuing to support Neviah Genomics with our broadly applicable computational discovery infrastructure. We believe this unique capability, in addition to its primary use for discovery of novel drug targets, provides an important competitive advantage for the potential development of products designed to reduce drug development attrition rates and assess the risk of late-stage drug failures. With this in mind, we are very pleased to be in a position to co-invest at this time in order to maintain our current percentage ownership."

About Neviah Genomics

Neviah Genomics was jointly established in 2012 by Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical business of Meck, and Compugen Ltd. The company operates out of the MS Ventures' Israel Bioincubator and is focused on identifying and developing novel biomarkers for the prediction of drug-induced toxicity. MS Ventures' Israel BioIncubator provided the initial funding for Neviah Genomics, and Compugen contributed its sophisticated proprietary computational discovery platforms to allow the development of advanced toxicogenomics diagnostic tests. It is the company's objective that developed tests can be used for the prediction of drug-induced toxicity and integrated into a biomarker platform to support the prioritization and development of drug product candidates.

About MS Ventures

MS Ventures is the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck. The fund was established in March 2009 and focuses primarily on early stage investments. MS Ventures has a strategic mandate and invests in companies that develop products and/or technologies that could benefit patients in therapeutic areas relevant to Merck Serono. MS Ventures has a total of € 140 million under management for strategic investments, investments through its Israel BioIncubator and spin-offs from the Merck Serono organization. For more information, please visit www.ms-ventures.com

About Merck Serono

Merck Serono is the biopharmaceutical business of Merck. With headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, Merck Serono offers leading brands in 150 countries to help patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis, infertility, endocrine and metabolic disorders as well as cardiovascular diseases. In the United States and Canada, EMD Serono operates as a separately incorporated subsidiary of Merck Serono.

Merck Serono discovers, develops, manufactures and markets prescription medicines of both chemical and biological origin in specialist indications. We have an enduring commitment to deliver novel therapies in our core focus areas of neurology, oncology, immuno-oncology and immunology.

For more information, please visit www.merckserono.com.

Merck is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in the healthcare, life science and performance materials sectors. With its businesses Merck Serono, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Merck Millipore and Performance Materials, the Group generated total revenues of € 11.1 billion in 2013. Around 39,000 Merck employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to further the success of customers and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company - since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany is holding the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates as EMD.

About Compugen

Compugen is a leading drug discovery company focused on monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins to address important unmet needs in the fields of oncology and immunology. The Company utilizes a broad and continuously growing integrated infrastructure of proprietary scientific understandings and predictive platforms, algorithms, machine learning systems and other computational biology capabilities for the in silico (by computer) prediction and selection of novel drug target candidates, which are then advanced in its Pipeline Program. The discovery and development of monoclonal antibody therapeutic candidates against selected Compugen-discovered novel target candidates is performed by Compugen's wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary located in South San Francisco. The Company's business model includes collaborations covering the further development and commercialization of product candidates at various stages from its Pipeline Program and various forms of research and discovery agreements, in both cases providing Compugen with potential milestone payments and royalties on product sales or other forms of revenue sharing. For additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate website at www.cgen.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "will," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," and "intends," and describe opinions about future events and include statements related to the commercial introduction of PropheTox™ in 2016, the potential for Neviah Genomics to be a leading toxicogenomics company, and the potential of Compugen's computational discovery infrastructure to provide an important competitive advantage for the potential development of products designed to reduce drug development attrition rates and assess the risk of late-stage drug failures. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are: the impact of competitive products and technological changes; risks relating to the development of new products; and the ability to implement technological improvements. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date, and no party assumes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements unless required by law.

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