Cambridge-gated biotech company Bicycle Therapeutics upped investment in its impressive pipeline in the second quarter of 2022, making continued clinical progress across the portfolio.

This included dosing of the first patient in expansion cohorts of the Phase I/II study of BT5528.

Expansion of its exclusive strategic collaboration with Genentech, triggering a $10 million payment to Bicycle in Q3, was a significant highlight.

Cash and equivalents of $372.8 million at June 30 excludes $9.8m UK R & D tax credit money received in July and the Genentech payment, handing Bicycle an anticipated financial runway into 2025.

Expanding both sides of the Atlantic, the company is pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology.

Chief executive Kevin Lee said: “We are pleased with the progress of our wholly owned clinical oncology pipeline of Bicycle Toxin Conjugate, or BTC™, programs and Bicycle tumour-targeted immune cell agonist®, or Bicycle TICA™, programs.

“In the second quarter we initiated the expansion cohorts of our Phase I/II study of BT5528, and development of BT8009 and BT7480 remains on track as these programs advance in their respective clinical trials.

“In addition, we were delighted to announce the second expansion of our immuno-oncology collaboration with Genentech, highlighting the potential of the platform beyond our BTCs and Bicycle TICAs.

“We are pleased to have a strong balance sheet which helps support the advancement of our programs and which we anticipate provides a financial runway into 2025.”