Bicycle Therapeutics creates fully synthetic, bi‑cyclic peptide molecules that combine the high affinity of biologics with drug‑like pharmacokinetics, enabling precise targeting of protein‑protein interactions that are difficult for traditional small molecules or antibodies. Their platform delivers rapid tissue penetration, renal clearance, and flexible conjugation to payloads, supporting targeted drug conjugates and immune agonists for solid‑tumor oncology and a range of non‑oncology indications. The company partners with pharma, biotech, and academic groups to develop novel therapeutics for high‑unmet‑need disease targets.
Funding
$555M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Product
Problem
Current treatments for solid tumors often rely on small molecules or antibodies that cannot effectively engage large, protein‑protein interaction targets, leading to limited efficacy and safety concerns such as off‑target toxicity. Additionally, many high‑value disease targets remain undruggable with conventional modalities, leaving patients with few therapeutic options.
Solution
Bicycle Therapeutics develops precision‑guided Bicycle® molecules, a novel class of fully synthetic, bi‑cyclic peptide‑based compounds that combine the high affinity and selectivity of biologics with the pharmacokinetic advantages of small molecules. By constraining short linear peptides into a stabilized scaffold, these molecules present a large surface area capable of mimicking protein‑protein interactions, enabling engagement of historically intractable targets. The platform supports rapid tissue penetration, renal elimination, and flexible conjugation to drug payloads, radioligands, or immune agonists, allowing the creation of targeted drug conjugates and immune cell agonists for solid tumor oncology. Bicycle’s approach also extends to non‑oncology indications through collaborative partnerships, leveraging the same technology to address unmet medical needs across multiple therapeutic areas.
Target Audience
Primary customers are pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms seeking novel modalities for solid tumor oncology and other high‑unmet‑need therapeutic areas, as well as academic research groups developing hard‑to‑drug targets.
Features
- Bi‑cyclic peptide scaffold (9‑20 amino acids) chemically synthesized into low‑molecular‑weight (1.5‑2.5 kDa) molecules with drug‑like properties
- Large molecular footprint enables high‑affinity binding to protein‑protein interaction sites that are inaccessible to traditional small molecules
- Fully synthetic, allowing scalable manufacturing and rapid design‑build cycles
- Flexible conjugation chemistry supports drug‑antibody‑like conjugates, radioligands, and multimeric immune cell agonists without loss of activity
- Rapid tissue penetration and renal clearance reduce hepatic and gastrointestinal toxicities
- Ability to target tumor‑associated antigens such as EphA2 and Nectin‑4 with cleavable linkers for payload delivery
- Platform applicability beyond oncology, including anti‑infective, cardiovascular, ophthalmic, CNS, and respiratory indications through partner collaborations