CAMBRIDGE, England and LELYSTAD, The Netherlands, November 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Bicycle Therapeutics has obtained a global license from Pepscan to utilize its proprietary constrained peptide chemistry technology. The parties propose to closely collaborate on the development of structurally modified peptides that will act as a novel class of therapeutic molecules.

Pepscan's proprietary technology allows the creation of constrained peptides covalently linked to an organochemical scaffold. Bicycle Therapeutics applies powerful biological selection techniques in combination with the Pepscan technology to identify and optimize chemically constrained cyclic peptides with high target specificity and binding affinities. These peptides could be regarded as mini-antibodies with covalent organic cores that are also stable to unfolding and to the action of proteases. As such they should overcome the weaknesses of previous generations of peptide based therapeutics and combine the best features of biological and small molecular weight drugs.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

John Tite, CEO of Bicycle Therapeutics said We are delighted to have entered into this relationship with Pepscan who are world leaders in the field of peptide mimetics. We believe that this partnership will enable Bicycle Therapeutics to generate molecules which are truly differentiated. The combination of biology and chemistry will enable us to create and explore new levels of molecular diversity.

We are very excited about this new collaboration said Joost van Bree CEO of Pepscan since it clearly demonstrates that our proprietary constrained peptide technology can be applied to develop a whole new and promising class of therapeutic molecules.

About Bicycle Therapeutics

Bicycle Therapeutics is a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, U.K. developing a novel technology for the creation of a new generation of biotherapeutics which combine the desirable features of small molecules and biopharmaceuticals. Bicycle technology is based on the work performed at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge by the scientific founders of the company, Prof. Christian Heinis and Prof. Sir Gregory Winter and is managed by Dr John Tite (CEO). The company was founded in July 2009 and received initial seed funding from Atlas Venture and Novartis Venture Fund. For more information visit http://www.bicycletherapeutics.com

About Pepscan Therapeutics

Pepscan Therapeutics is a product focused immunotherapy company based in the Netherlands. It has developed a pipeline of therapeutic vaccine and antibody programs of which the most advanced is in Phase II clinical testing. Pepscan's proprietary CLIPS(TM) technology has been proven to yield functional antibodies reactive with a range of complex proteins, including GPCRs. For more information visit http://www.pepscantherapeutics.com

About CLIPS(TM) Technology

CLIPS(TM) (Chemical LInkage of Peptides onto Scaffold) is a technology to present one or more peptides in a structurally constrained configuration. These molecules behave as functional mimics of complex protein domains and hitherto have been used in antibody and vaccine programmes to create superior immunogens in the induction and selection of antibodies against disease relevant protein targets. This is especially valuable in the case of proteins that are inaccessible as recombinant proteins (e.g. GPCRs, ion channels, patented proteins). The collaboration with Bicycle opens up new horizons for the technology.

SOURCE: Bicycle Therapeutics

CONTACT: Contact information: For Pepscan Therapeutics BV: Dr. Peter vanDijken, Zuidersluisweg 2, 8243RC Lelystad, The Netherlands, Email:info@pepscan.com, Phone +31-320-225300. For Bicycle Therapeutics Limited:Dr. John Tite, 8, Clifford Street, London, W1S 2LQ, UK, E-mail:johntite@bicycletherapeutics.com, Phone: +44(0)1223-207199, Mobile:+44(0)7798-791337.