Compugen and Millennium Enter Collaboration for the Prediction of Protein Pathways.

Business Editors

BIO-TECH ISRAEL 2002

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BW HealthWire)--March 20, 2002

Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq:CGEN) announced today an agreement with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MLNM) to co-develop software tools to assist in the prediction of protein pathways for use in drug discovery and development.

The two companies will share the costs of the project and the rights to certain aspects of the technology developed through the collaboration.

This collaborative agreement combines Millennium's knowledge of applying high-throughput genomics technologies, especially transcriptional profiling, for drug discovery and the development of personalized medicines with Compugen's strength in predictive biology accomplished through the merger of computational technologies and molecular biology and medicine. The agreement provides for a multidisciplinary research and development team, combining molecular biologists, mathematicians and computer scientists from both companies, to pursue the objective of advancing the understanding of protein pathways through the analysis of the results of selected Millennium DNA chip data.

"We are delighted to partner with Millennium, a highly respected and leading biopharmaceutical company, which brings with it a proven scientific and commercial record in advancing drug discovery and development. This partnership with Millennium is a significant milestone in our advancement towards protein pathway prediction and an important validation of our technological strength. We are confident that the results of this joint research will help scientists to better leverage high-throughput genomic data in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease and in the development of new therapeutics," said Mor Amitai, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, Compugen.

"Compugen is an established leader in modeling unique biological phenomena such as alternative splicing and in prediction of metabolic and regulatory pathways; we are excited to combine the companies' areas of expertise to enhance the understanding of protein pathways for therapeutic discovery and development. This also marks Millennium's first collaboration with an Israeli biotechnology company. Compugen, a global leader in predictive biology, exemplifies the strength of Israel as a center of scientific excellence in the life sciences. We will continue to seek additional opportunities for partnerships within the Israeli biotechnology industry," said Yigal Koltin, Ph.D., vice president of International R&D Alliance Development, Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Since its inception, Compugen has focused on deciphering the underlying mechanisms of molecular biology in order to advance the new life sciences. In 1997, Compugen pioneered the comprehensive understanding of alternative splicing and transcriptomes with its LEADS predictive biology platform. Building on this understanding, Compugen's BioApplications division successfully developed a number of solutions for key aspects of genomics and functional genomics, including the design of DNA Chips. Compugen's evolution also progressed into the field of proteomics; and this agreement with Millennium is a significant component of Compugen's ongoing efforts in the emerging, and potentially extremely important, area of protein pathway understanding and prediction.

Photo Caption:

Dr. Mor Amitai, president and chief executive officer of Compugen and Dr. Yigal Koltin, vice president of International R&D Alliance Development of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, announcing the collaboration at the BioTech Israel 2002 conference. www.cgen.com/news/images/Compugen-and-Millennium-collaboration.jpg

About Compugen

Compugen (Nasdaq:CGEN) is a leader in merging computational technologies with biology and medicine to enhance drug discovery and development. The Company's innovative predictive biology technologies support two complementary product development and commercialization divisions. Compugen's BioApplications division offers high value products and services that enable and enhance the discovery and functional analysis of genes, proteins and cell processes. Compugen's Novel Genomics division is developing human therapeutic and diagnostic products based on target genes, proteins and other intellectual property discovered through the Company's innovative research activities. For additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate Web site at http://www.cgen.com/ and the Company's Internet research engine for molecular biologists, www.LabOnWeb.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include words like "may," "expects," "believes," and "intends," and describe opinions about future events. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Compugen to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are: changes in relationships with collaborators; the impact of competitive products and technological changes; risks relating to the development of new products; the ability to implement technological improvements; the ability of Compugen to obtain and retain customers. These and other factors are identified and more fully explained under the heading "Risk Factors" in Compugen's Registration Statement on Form F-1 and annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.