Bicycle Therapeutics in $30M Deal with Genentech

Bicycle Therapeutics has announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech to discover, develop and commercialize novel immuno-oncology therapies. Bicycle is headquartered in Cambridge, UK with many key functions and members of its leadership team located in Lexington, MA.

By entering into this early discovery collaboration with Genentech, Bicycle will be exploring its technology on a wider range of immuno-oncology targets, combining the expertise of both companies. Bicycle brings its proprietary discovery platform, which allows rapid screening of novel targets to identify Bicycles and the ability to readily conjugate these together to create novel molecules that may overcome the potential limitations of other modalities. Genentech brings to the collaboration its knowledge of immuno-oncology drug discovery and emerging target biology, as well as its development and commercialization expertise.

“Our collaboration with Genentech recognizes the potential of Bicycle’s differentiated technology, which allows us to specifically direct immune cell stimulators and other payloads to tumors in a highly targeted manner,” said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. “We look forward to working closely with Genentech to pioneer the discovery and development of potential new cutting-edge cancer treatments based on Bicycles.”

Bicycles are fully synthetic short peptides constrained with small molecule scaffolds to form two loops that stabilize their structural geometry. This constraint facilitates target binding with high affinity and selectivity, making Bicycles attractive candidates for drug development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Genentech and Bicycle will collaborate on the discovery and pre-clinical development of novel Bicycle-based immunotherapies against multiple targets. Bicycle will be responsible for discovery research and early pre-clinical development up to candidate selection, and Genentech will be responsible for further development and commercialization upon the selection of candidates. None of Bicycle’s wholly owned oncology pipeline, including its immuno-oncology candidates, are included in the collaboration.

Bicycle will receive a $30 million upfront payment. The upfront payment and potential discovery, development, regulatory and commercial-based milestone payments could total up to $1.7 billion. Bicycle will also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on Bicycle-based medicines commercialized by Genentech. (Source: Bicycle Therapeutics Website, 25 February, 2020)