LONDON & CAMBRIDGE, England & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cancer Research UK and Bicycle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) product platform, today announced a poster presentation at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology held from June 1 – June 5, 2018 in Chicago, Ill. The poster describes their ongoing phase I/IIa clinical trial of BT1718 in patients with advanced solid tumors, which is the first clinical study of a bicyclic peptide.
Details of the presentation, which will be given by Dr. Udai Banerji, Principal Investigator for the Phase I trial, are as follows:
Session Title: Developmental Therapeutics—Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Time: June 4, 2018, 8:00 – 11:30 a.m. CT
ABOUT BT1718
BT1718 is a first-in-class Bicycle Toxin Conjugate being developed by Bicycle Therapeutics that targets Membrane Type 1 Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP), also known as MMP-14. This target has an established role in cell invasion and metastasis, is linked to poor outcomes and is over expressed in many solid tumors. In preclinical models, BT1718 has demonstrated promising target-dependent efficacy and only a subset of the toxicities typically associated with other highly potent cancer treatments.
Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development (CDD) is sponsoring a Phase I/IIa study of BT1718 that started in February 2018 with patients currently progressing through dose escalation cohorts. The trial is co-managed by Cancer Research UK and Bicycle Therapeutics. Under the terms of the agreement, Bicycle retains the right to further advance the BT1718 program, at which point an undisclosed payment split between cash and equity, success-based milestones and royalty payments would be made to Cancer Research UK.
ABOUT BICYCLE THERAPEUTICS
Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a unique class of chemically synthesized medicines based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) product platform to address therapeutic needs unreachable with existing treatment modalities. Bicycle’s internal focus is in oncology, where the company is developing targeted cytotoxics (Bicycle Toxin Conjugates), targeted innate immune activators and T-cell modulators for cancers of high unmet medical need. Bicycles’ small size and exquisite targeting deliver rapid tumor penetration and retention while clearance rates and routes of elimination can be tuned to minimize exposure of healthy tissue and bystander toxicities. The company’s lead program, BT1718, is being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa trial in collaboration with Cancer Research UK. The company’s unique intellectual property is based on the work initiated at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K., by the scientific founders of the company, Sir Gregory Winter and Professor Christian Heinis. Bicycle has its headquarters in Cambridge, U.K., with many key functions and members of its leadership team located in the biotech hub of Boston, Mass. For more information, visit www.bicycletherapeutics.com or follow us on Twitter at @Bicycle_tx.
ABOUT CANCER RESEARCH UK’S COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS TEAM
Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Our specialist Commercial Partnerships Team work closely with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes to protect intellectual property arising from their research and to establish links with commercial partners. The team develop promising ideas into successful cancer therapeutics, software, devices, diagnostics and enabling technologies. This helps to accelerate progress in exciting new discoveries in cancer research and bring new treatments to patients sooner. http://commercial.cancerresearchuk.org/
Cancer Research UK’s commercial activity operates through Cancer Research Technology Ltd. (CRT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cancer Research UK. It is the legal entity which pursues drug discovery research in themed alliance partnerships and delivers varied commercial partnering arrangements.
ABOUT CANCER RESEARCH UK’S CENTRE FOR DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Cancer Research UK has an impressive record of developing novel treatments for cancer. The Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development, formerly the Drug Development Office, has been pioneering the development of new cancer treatments for 25 years, taking over 140 potential new anti-cancer agents into clinical trials in patients. It currently has a portfolio of around 30 new anti-cancer agents in preclinical development, Phase I or early Phase II clinical trials. Six of these new agents have made it to market including temozolomide for brain cancer, abiraterone for prostate cancer and rucaparib for ovarian cancer. Two other drugs are in late development Phase III trials. This rate of success is comparable to that of any pharmaceutical company.
ABOUT CANCER RESEARCH UK
- Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.
- Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.
- Cancer Research UK receives no funding from the UK government for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public.
- Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years.
- Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK’s ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.
- Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
- Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.
For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
