Cambridge spearheads new voyage of discovery for raceaway Bicycle
And the good news keeps on coming for staff at Bicycle’s Cambridge headquarters. The company has streamlined its leadership team to better align with strategic and pipeline priorities.
As part of that process, CTO Mike Skynner, has assumed leadership of Bicycle’s discovery research team and all discovery research activities will be consolidated and moved to the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, UK. Some of that work was previously covered by a small team in the US but as Bicycle seeks to commercialise larger chunks of its pipeline then focus is all.
As recently reported, the company raised gross proceeds of $555 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing, with participation from leading healthcare investors, which is expected to extend the company’s financial runway into the second half of 2027.
The company plans to use the net proceeds of $544.1m to fund the continued development of its proprietary pipeline and for other R & D, as well as for general corporate purposes.
In July, Bicycle repaid its loan with California-based Hercules Capital, Inc., ahead of its 2025 maturity date, with total payments of $31.9m – including accrued and unpaid interest, an end-of-term charge and an early repayment fee.
The company had cash and equivalents of $961.4m at June 30, compared to $526.4m at December 31. The increase is primarily due to net proceeds from the PIPE financing plus share option exercises, offset by cash used in operating activities.
R & D expenses were $40.1m for the three months to June 30, compared to $39.7m last year. General and administrative expenses were $15.9m compared to $14.8m, with the small increase primarily due to increased personnel-related costs.
The net loss was reduced to $39.8m compared to $42.6m in the same period to end-June 2023.
The Nasdaq-quoted company is pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology, today reported recent business progress and financial results for the Q2 2024.
CEO Kevin Lee commented: “In the second quarter, we continued to demonstrate the ongoing progress of our pipeline and highlight the emerging differentiated profiles of our Bicycle Toxin Conjugates® zelenectide pevedotin and BT5528 compared to antibody drug conjugates.
“As we enter the second half of the year, we look forward to sharing the first set of data updates from our clinical programs at the upcoming ESMO Congress.
“Additionally, I am honoured to welcome renowned oncology experts from around the world to our Clinical Advisory Board. Their advice and counsel will be critical as we work to develop therapies that can help patients live longer and live well.
“Bicycle Therapeutics also significantly strengthened our balance sheet in the second quarter through the support of leading healthcare investors. Moreover, we have prioritised our pipeline and streamlined our leadership team to enable us to focus on the clinical programs and research areas that we believe have the highest potential for value creation and align with our strategy to support the long-term growth of our company.”
