Israel's Compugen R&D spend rises

Israeli biotechnology company Compugen has posted sales of $2.2 millionin the first quarter of 2001, up from just under $860,000 in the like, year-earlier period, with a 10% reduction in net loss to $3.6 million. Losses per share were $0.14, down 77.8%.

Deal signed with Avalon

The firm's R&D spend increased to $3.5 million from L1.9 million, which Compugen said was principally due to an increase in scientific staff to support existing and new projects. During the quarter, the company launched Gencarta, an annotated genome, transcriptome and proteome database, and it also signed an agreement with Avalon Pharmaceuticals, which gives the latter access to the database. Compugen also noted that it has released an upgraded version of Z3, its automated analysis system for proteins as they appear on 2D gels.