Genentech in $1.7bn immuno-oncology deal
California-headquartered biotech Genentech has agreed to pay $30 million upfront to develop immuno-oncology therapies with UK-based Bicycle Therapeutics.
Under the agreement, announced on Tuesday, February 25, Bicycle Therapeutics could be eligible for up to $1.7 billion in milestone payments.
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a novel class of therapeutics, based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle) technology. Working with Genentech, Bicycle Therapeutics will explore its technology on a wider range of immuno-oncology targets.
James Sabry, global head of pharma partnering at Genentech’s parent company Roche, said: “Bicycles represent a novel therapeutic modality and have shown promise as modulators of several types of tumour-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.”
Bicycle Therapeutics’ proprietary discovery platform 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”.
Kevin Lee, CEO of Bicycle Therapeutics, added that the company’s collaboration with Genentech recognises the potential of Bicycle’s differentiated technology.
“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,” he said.
This isn’t Bicycle Therapeutic’s first collaboration—in 2017, the UK company partnered with biotech Bioverativ to develop and commercialise therapies for haemophilia and sickle cell disease.
It has also worked with AstraZeneca and, in 2018, expanded its collaboration with the pharmaceutical company to include additional targets in respiratory and cardio-metabolic diseases.
Earlier this year, Genentech began working with US-based biopharmaceutical company Parvus Therapeutics on the development, manufacture and commercialisation of Navacim, a therapeutic for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune liver disease and celiac disease.
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