LONDON - Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd, a new biotechnology company developing a novel technology platform for the creation of a new generation of biotherapeutics, has secured seed funding from Atlas Venture and Novartis Venture Fund.
Bicycle Therapeutics combines the most desirable features of small molecules and biologics, to create highly specific and highly stable drugs.
The technology involves the application of phage selection techniques to the identification and optimisation of chemically constrained cyclic peptides with high target specificity and binding affinities that are also stable to unfolding and to the action of proteases. These peptides could be regarded as a mini-antibodies with covalent organic cores, and as such should overcome the weaknesses of previous generations of peptide-based therapeutics
Bicycle Therapeutics is a spin-out from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. Its technology platform is based on the pioneering work of the founding scientists Sir Gregory Winter, a scientific founder for both CAT and Domantis, and Dr Christian Heinis. The new company is managed by Dr John Tite (Chief Executive Officer) and is based in Cambridge.
“We are delighted to have created this exciting new company based upon such an innovative technology and with scientific founders with such a great track record. Bicycle Therapeutics aims to develop its proprietary technology to create a pipeline of drugs which have the potential to be truly differentiated medicines,” said John Tite.
As part of the seed funding, founding investors Dr Regina Hodits, Atlas Venture, and Dr Anja König, Novartis Venture Fund, will join the Board of Directors.
“We are truly excited about the prospect of creating a novel class of highly differentiated therapeutics with a world class team of founders, research organisations and management,” said Regina Hodits from Atlas.
Anja König from the Novartis Venture Fund agrees: “Bicycle’s technologies have the potential to be truly transformational in generating a completely new class of drug molecule combining the advantages of biologics and small molecules.”
“It is very satisfying to see another new company coming from the Laboratory’s research, and we will continue to work with the company to ensure that the benefits of this technology are realised as quickly as possible to improve human health,” said the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology Dr. Hugh Pelham
Dave Tapolczay, CEO of MRC Technology, the company responsible for commercially exploiting MRC intellectual property, said, “The translation of basic, long-term research such as this into a start-up company with first class investors, management and founding scientists is one of MRC’s goals. There is a great opportunity for Bicycle Therapeutics to deliver both medicinal and economic value to the UK in the years to come and contribute significantly to this goal.”
About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the US and Europe. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 350 companies in more than 16 different countries. In the past decade, 44 portfolio companies have been acquired and 47 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over US$15 billion. Atlas Venture manages over US$2.5 billion in capital through offices in Boston and London. For more information, visit www.atlasventure.com
About Novartis Venture Fund
Established in 1996, the Novartis Venture Fund currently manages over US$750m in committed capital and has invested globally in more than 50 private life sciences companies across therapeutics, vaccines, devices and diagnostics. As a financially driven corporate life science investor, the Novartis Venture Fund invests in those companies which have the potential to lead the next innovation wave in new areas that will be critical to patient care. The Novartis Venture Fund team of eight investment professionals based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, brings together extensive expertise in drug development, medical devices, and venture capital. For more information, visit
www.venturefund.novartis.com
About Medical Research Council
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC’s expenditure of approximately GBP500 million is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres, of which the Laboratory of Molecular Biology is probably the most famous, with a distinguished record of contributions to basic science and its application. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools. For more information, visit: www.mrc.ac.uk.
About Medical Research Council Technology (MRCT)
MRCT is the exclusive commercialisation agent for the UK Medical Research Council, working to translate cutting edge scientific discoveries into commercial products. In addition MRCT’s Centre for Therapeutics Discovery works to bridge the gap between innovative basic science and making medicine. MRCT works to provide drug-like candidate molecules to innovative new drug targets, and to translate innovative antibody-based drug targets into potent and selective therapeutic antibody candidates, giving pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies new starting points for drug discovery and development, based on MRC advances in science. MRCT’s Therapeutic Antibody Group scientists have a proven track record of success in antibody humanisation which extends over 20 years and has produced 10 clinical candidates and two regulatory approved humanised antibodies: Elan/Biogen Idec’s Tysabri(R) and Chugai/Roche’s Actemra(R). For more information, visit: www.mrctechnology.org
Source: Bicycle Therapeutics
Contact information: Bicycle Therapeutics Limited, Dr John Tite, 8, Clifford Street, London, W1S 2LQ, E-mail: johntite at bicycletherapeutics.com, Phone: +44(0)1223-207199, Mobile: +44(0)7798-791337, Web-site: http://www.bicycletherapeutics.com
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