Bicycle Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BCYC), a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology, today announced that Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has exercised an option to initiate a new program, expanding the exclusive strategic collaboration agreement with Bicycle to discover, develop and commercialize novel Bicycle®-based immuno-oncology therapies.

Bicycle and Genentech are collaborating on the discovery and pre-clinical development of novel Bicycle-based immunotherapies against multiple targets. Pursuant to the terms of the February 2020 agreement, Genentech has exercised an option to include a new program under the agreement, triggering a $10 million payment to Bicycle. None of the compounds in Bicycle’s wholly owned oncology pipeline, including its immuno-oncology candidates, are included in the collaboration.

“We are pleased both with the progress achieved so far in our ongoing work with Genentech and that Genentech has elected to exercise an option to add a new program under the collaboration. We believe the expansion of our collaboration underscores the potential utility of Bicycles compared to other modalities, as well as the potential broad applicability of Bicycles in a wide-range of targets,” said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the preeminent immuno-oncology team at Genentech to develop potential new cancer treatments based on Bicycles.”