Bicycle Therapeutics Files IPO to Raise $86 Million for Advancing BT1718 in Oncology Trials

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that biopharmaceutical company Bicycle Therapeutics recently filed its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bicycle Therapeutics plans to raise $86 million on the Nasdaq Stock Market to advance Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials of its anticancer drug candidate, BT1718. The IPO is expected to offer approximately 630,000 shares of common stock, which will trade under the ticker symbol BCYC.

Previously, Bicycle Therapeutics completed a $3.8 million angel round in 2012 and a $32 million Series A financing in 2014, followed by a total of $80 million in Series B financing in 2017 and 2018. The company has used the raised funds to develop multiple drug candidates, including its lead molecule, BT1718, a first-in-class investigational new drug for cancer.

Bicycle Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics based on its proprietary Bicycle® peptide platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the company has a subsidiary in Massachusetts, USA. Building on the pioneering work of its scientific founder, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Sir Gregory Winter, in phage display technology for peptides and antibodies, Bicycle Therapeutics is committed to developing new treatments and drugs for challenging diseases in oncology.

Bicycles® exhibit antibody-like affinity and precise targeting specificity. Their small size enables rapid and deep tissue penetration, thereby facilitating the targeting of tumor lesions from within the tissue. Their peptide nature provides “tunable” pharmacokinetic half-lives and renal clearance pathways, thus avoiding the hepatic and gastrointestinal toxicities commonly associated with other drug modalities.

Bicycle Therapeutics’ lead candidate, BT1718, is an anticancer drug developed using Bicycle Drug Conjugate (BDC) technology. The ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial, conducted in collaboration with and funded by the Cancer Research UK Drug Development Centre (CRUK), is evaluating the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of BT1718. Bicycle Therapeutics expects to obtain preliminary data from the clinical trial in the second half of the year. If the recommended dose is established based on results from two out of the 40 enrolled patients, BT1718 will immediately advance to Phase 2 clinical trials.

In addition to oncology, Bicycle Therapeutics is collaborating with biopharmaceutical companies and relevant institutions to leverage its Bicycle® peptide platform for developing therapies targeting other diseases, including areas such as antibacterial, respiratory, cardiovascular, hematology, and ophthalmology.

(Compiled by Wang Yue)