Bicycle Therapeutics in $30m Genentech collaboration
Bicycle Therapeutics, which is developing a new class of small, chemically-synthesised medicines called Bicycles, has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech.
The Babraham Research Campus company will receive a $30million upfront payment and could earn, if it achieves all milestones, up to $1.7billion.
The early discovery collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, involves the discovery, development and commercialisation of novel Bicycle-based immuno-oncology therapies.
The company has a 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 limitations of other modalities.
Genentech brings its knowledge of immuno-oncology drug discovery and emerging target biology, as well as development and commercialisation 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,” says Bicycle Therapeutics’ CEO Kevin Lee.
“In addition, the flexibility of the Bicycle platform enables rapid exploration of structure-activity relationships to fully optimise candidate molecules.
“We look forward to working closely with Genentech to pioneer the discovery and development of potential new cutting-edge cancer treatments based on Bicycles.”
James Sabry, global head of pharma partnering at Roche, said: “Bicycles represent a novel therapeutic modality and have shown promise as modulators of several types of tumor-killing immune cells.
“By leveraging Genentech’s deep understanding of cancer immunology and Bicycle’s technological expertise, we hope to create a new wave of immunotherapy options to expand the population of patients who could potentially benefit from this powerful treatment paradigm.”
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.
