About

Based in Cambridge, U.K., Bicycle Therapeutics is a newly established biotech company developing a novel technology for the creation of a new generation of biotherapeutics which combine the desirable features of small molecules and biopharmaceuticals.

Bicycle technology is based on the work performed at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge by the scientific founders of the company, Prof. Christian Heinis and Prof. Sir Gregory Winter. The technology involves the application of phage selection techniques to the identification and optimisation of chemically constrained peptides with high target specificity and binding affinities. The highly constrained nature of the peptides generated by the technology means that not only can very high affinities be achieved but also that the peptides are highly stable and resistant to protease degradation, features which address the weaknesses of previous generations of peptide based therapeutics.

The company was founded in July 2009 by Sir Gregory Winter, Atlas Venture, Novartis Venture Fund and the MRC. The seed syndicate was expanded in December 2009 with the addition of SR One, the independent corporate venture fund of GlaxoSmithKline, and SV Life Sciences. The seed phase of the company is focused on further refining the technology to ensure it fulfills its full potential and to start applying the technology to targets of therapeutic interest.