Bicycle Therapeutics announces strategic collaboration with Novartis

Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC) announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Novartis (NVS) to develop, manufacture and commercialize Bicycle radio-conjugates, BRCs, for multiple agreed upon oncology targets. "This collaboration builds on the groundbreaking clinical work we have been doing in the toxin conjugate field and provides new and additional validation for this unique technology," said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. "We look forward to working closely with Novartis to pioneer the discovery and development of potential new cutting-edge radiopharmaceutical cancer treatments based on Bicycles. We believe the properties of Bicycles make them well suited for the development of precision guided radiopharmaceuticals and represents the next leg in the application of our proprietary discovery platform in oncology." Under the terms of the agreement, Bicycle will utilize its proprietary phage platform to discover Bicycles to be developed into BRCs. Novartis will be responsible for further development, manufacture and commercialization of the BRCs. Novartis will fund all pre-clinical and clinical development and commercialization activities. Bicycle will receive a $50M upfront payment and is eligible for development and commercial-based milestone payments totaling up to $1.7B. Bicycle will also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on Bicycle-based medicines commercialized by Novartis.