Bicycle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) product platform, and Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest cancer charity, today announced that their collaboration has secured a prestigious Scrip Award, winning 2017’s Best Partnership Alliance.

Bicycle is partnering with Cancer Research UK to develop its lead candidate, BT1718, in patients with advanced poorly treated cancers. BT1718 targets Membrane Type 1 Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT1-MTP), which is highly expressed in many solid tumours, including triple negative breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The programme will enter the clinic in early 2018.

Dr. Nigel Blackburn, Cancer Research UK’s director of drug development, said: “We’re thrilled to be recognised for our valuable strategic partnership with Bicycle Therapeutics. Our collaborative partnerships with industry help bring the most promising new treatments to patients and BT1718 is a potentially transformative drug that could be used to tackle many different cancers.”

“Finding new ways to target hard to treat cancers is a crucially important area of research and through this collaboration, we hope we can speed up the development of therapies for patients who urgently need new treatment options.”

Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Bicycle’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to receive this prestigious award, which highlights the genuinely collaborative nature of our work with Cancer Research UK. This innovative alliance provides us with an optimal approach for exploring the potential of the Bicycle platform, and we look forward to continuing our work as we move BT1718 into clinical development in 2018.”

Also at the Scrip Awards, Dr. Lee was honoured as “Executive of the Year for companies valued below $1 billion” for his dynamic leadership in guiding Bicycle towards the achievement of multiple milestones, including the signing of several important partnerships and a £45 million Series B financing.