NEW YORK – Bicycle Therapeutics on Thursday said it has partnered with the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) to develop radio-conjugate drugs for various cancers.
DKFZ will contribute its radioligand research expertise to the collaboration and help Bicycle advance its so-called bicycle radio-conjugate (BRC) therapies to clinical trials. BRCs are designed to bind to cancer targets with high affinity and selectivity. The "bicycle" refers to synthetic short peptides within small molecule scaffolds that form two loops to stabilize their structural geometry.
DKFZ worked with the University of Heidelberg on early development of Novartis' now-approved prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting prostate cancer radiopharmaceutical, Pluvicto (Lu-177 vipivotide tetraxetan). Bicycle also recently announced a collaboration with Novartis to develop radiopharmaceuticals using its BRC linking platform.
"We have experience working with Bicycle scientists on radiochemistry projects and believe that the physiochemical properties of Bicycle's constrained bicyclic peptides make them ideal ligands for targeted radioisotope delivery," Matthias Eder, a professor of radiopharmaceutical development at the University of Freiburg, said in a statement.
Bicycle is aiming to begin testing its BRCs in clinical trials by the end of 2024.