Holon. Founded 1993 by Mintz/Faigler/Natan. NASDAQ: CGEN; TASE: CGEN. Anat Cohen-Dayag CEO 2010–Sept 2025 (now Executive Chair); Eran Ophir President/CEO from Sept 2025. Unigen™ AI/ML platform. Immuno-oncology pipeline. AstraZeneca + Gilead partners.
Israeli Health & Biotech | Olam.business
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) is a clinical-stage cancer-immunotherapy company headquartered in Holon, Israel — and the longest-running Israeli case study for using computational biology to originate new drug targets. Founded 1993 by Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler, and Amir Natan as a computational drug-discovery service provider. Under Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag — CEO from 2010 through September 2025, now Executive Chair — the company completed a 15-year institutional transformation: from computational-biology consulting business into a therapeutic discovery and development company advancing a differentiated immuno-oncology pipeline built on its proprietary AI/ML-driven Unigen™ computational discovery platform. Global strategic partnerships with AstraZeneca and Gilead validate the platform. Dr. Eran Ophir, prior CSO, assumed the CEO role in September 2025.
Snapshot
| Location | Holon, Israel |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Founders | Eli Mintz; Simchon Faigler; Amir Natan |
| Public listing | NASDAQ: CGEN; TASE: CGEN |
| Founding model | Computational drug-discovery service provider |
| Current model | Clinical-stage cancer-immunotherapy discovery and development |
| Discovery platform | Unigen™ — proprietary AI/ML-driven computational target-discovery engine |
| Therapeutic focus | Immuno-oncology — antibody-based cancer immunotherapy pipeline |
| Strategic partners | AstraZeneca; Gilead Sciences |
| Executive Chair | Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag (CEO 2010–Sept 2025; Executive Chair from Sept 2025) |
| President and CEO | Dr. Eran Ophir (prior CSO; assumed CEO role September 2025) |
| Cohen-Dayag credentials | BSc Biology (Ben-Gurion University); MSc chemical immunology + PhD cellular biology (Weizmann Institute of Science) |
| Cohen-Dayag board seat | Yeda Research and Development Company (Weizmann tech-transfer) |
| Recent board addition | Dr. Michele Holcomb (independent director, Feb 2026) |
The 1993 Founding — Computational Biology as Discovery Infrastructure
Compugen was founded in 1993 by Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler, and Amir Natan. The founding thesis was structural: that the volume of biological data being generated by the Human Genome Project and adjacent programs would exceed the capacity of manual analysis, and that computational tools built on machine-learning and algorithmic approaches would become the primary infrastructure for identifying novel drug targets.
For the first 15+ years of the company's operating life, Compugen operated as a computational-biology service and software provider — building the discovery infrastructure and licensing outputs to pharmaceutical partners. Martin Gerstel — long-tenured executive — chaired the company through the 1990s and 2000s, including a period as President and CEO through 2009.
The Cohen-Dayag Transformation (2010–2025)
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag joined Compugen in 2002 as Director of Diagnostics. She progressed through Vice President for Diagnostic Biomarkers and Drug Targets, then Vice President of R&D. In June 2009 she was appointed co-CEO alongside Martin Gerstel. In March 2010 she assumed the sole President and CEO role. She held that position for 15 years, until September 2025.
The 15-year Cohen-Dayag arc completed the institutional transformation: Compugen exited the pure computational-services business and repositioned as a therapeutic discovery and development company — running an immuno-oncology pipeline built on the company's proprietary computational-discovery platform. The pipeline is antibody-based, focused on activating the immune system against cancer, and structured to advance multiple potential first-in-class clinical programs to strategic pharmaceutical partners.
Cohen-Dayag's academic credentials — BSc Biology from Ben-Gurion University, MSc in chemical immunology and PhD in cellular biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science — position her at the intersection of the Israeli academic-medical infrastructure Compugen depends on for scientific talent. She serves on the board of directors of Yeda Research and Development Company, the Weizmann Institute's technology-transfer subsidiary — an unusual dual role that formalizes the institutional relationship between Compugen and Israel's premier basic-research institution.
The Unigen™ Platform
Unigen™ is Compugen's proprietary AI/ML-driven computational target-discovery platform. The platform architecture is the direct commercial descendant of the company's original computational-biology infrastructure — but Cohen-Dayag's institutional transformation repositioned Unigen from external service tool to internal engine driving Compugen's own therapeutic pipeline.
The platform's demonstrated commercial validation: global strategic partnerships with AstraZeneca and Gilead. Both partnerships license Unigen-derived targets or programs into partner pipelines, generating milestone and royalty economics. As of the September 2025 leadership transition, Compugen had a cash runway extending into 2027 — an unusual liquidity position for a clinical-stage Israeli biotech.
The 2025 Leadership Transition — Ophir Takes CEO
Dr. Eran Ophir, prior Chief Scientific Officer, assumed President and CEO in September 2025 following the annual general meeting. Cohen-Dayag transitioned to the newly created Executive Chair position, focusing on corporate strategy, strategic collaborations, and investor relations. Prior Board Chair Paul Sekhri stepped down after eight years. Michele Holcomb, PhD — appointed to the board in February 2026 — brings pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare-services experience across three decades and completes the post-transition board configuration.
Position in the Israeli Biotech Sector
Compugen is the reference Israeli case study for the AI-driven drug-discovery model — anticipating, by a decade or more, the current global AI-drug-discovery cycle. The company's institutional lineage predates the modern LLM era; the Unigen platform has been in operating deployment across multiple technology-and-model generations.
Compugen sits alongside a small number of Israeli biotech companies — Teva at the pharmaceutical-manufacturing scale; Pluri at the cell-therapy layer; a broader cohort of privately held and academic-spinout biotech companies — as one of the anchor names in the Israeli therapeutics-development category. Its differentiation is platform-based: the Unigen engine is the durable IP asset, and the therapeutic programs are the commercialization output.
Why Compugen Matters
Three reasons. First — the AI-drug-discovery track record. Compugen is one of the earliest institutional case studies globally for computational drug discovery, with an operating history that predates the current AI-in-biotech cycle by more than three decades. Second — the Weizmann-linked institutional anchor. Cohen-Dayag's continued Yeda board role and the company's Weizmann-trained scientific leadership provide a structural link into the Israeli basic-research base. Third — the platform-plus-pipeline model. Unigen is a durable IP asset licensed to global pharmaceutical partners while simultaneously feeding an internal clinical-stage immuno-oncology pipeline — the same architecture that anchors the most productive US and European biotech platforms.
FAQ
Where is Compugen headquartered?
Holon, Israel.
Who founded Compugen?
Eli Mintz, Simchon Faigler, and Amir Natan founded the company in 1993.
Who runs Compugen?
As of September 2025, Dr. Eran Ophir (prior CSO) is President and CEO. Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag — CEO from 2010 to September 2025 — serves as Executive Chair of the Board of Directors.
What is Unigen?
Compugen's proprietary AI/ML-driven computational target-discovery platform. Unigen is the discovery engine that generates the novel targets Compugen advances through its internal immuno-oncology pipeline and licenses to strategic pharmaceutical partners.
Who are Compugen's strategic partners?
AstraZeneca and Gilead Sciences are the publicly disclosed global strategic pharmaceutical partners.
How is Compugen listed?
Compugen shares are dual-listed on NASDAQ (ticker CGEN) and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: CGEN).
Related Olam Coverage
- Israeli Health & Biotech — Olam's pillar coverage of the Israeli health and biotech sector
- Weizmann Institute of Science
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
- aMoon Fund: Marius Nacht's $1B+ Israeli Healthtech Venture Platform
- The Israeli Hospital Innovation Engine
- The Israeli Medical Devices Cluster
The Olam Editorial Team