Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd (2009)

Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd is a biotechnology company created in 2009 which has developed a novel technology platform for the creation of a biotherapeutics.  Bicycle Therapeutics combines the most desirable features of small molecules and biologics to create peptide drugs with high affinity, specificity and stability to their pharmacological targets.

The technology, which came from the work of the scientific Founders Sir Gregory Winter and Professor Christian Heinis, involves the application of phage selection techniques to the identification and optimisation of chemically constrained cyclic peptides. The company has transformed this technology for the development of advanced therapeutics. These agents include toxin conjugates in which the peptide moiety is used to deliver toxins to tumours, and bispecific agents which recruit and activate cytoxic cells at tumour sites.

Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd has forged both clinical (with CRUK for a phase I clinical trial of a bicycle drug conjugate) and commercial links (with AstraZeneca, Bioverativ and Oxurion). The company secured seed funding from Atlas Venture and Novartis Venture Fund, and subsequent rounds of investments have involved Schroeder Life Sciences Venture Fund, SRone, Ahren Innovation Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Vertex Venture Holdings and Tybourne Capital.