CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bicycle Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycles™) product platform, today announced the appointment of Phil Jeffrey, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Pre-Clinical Development.
“Phil brings a wealth of experience in drug discovery and development,” said Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics. “He has wide expertise in drug discovery from lead optimization through to the clinic, across multiple disease areas and modalities. We are delighted to welcome him to the team and believe his deep knowledge will be a huge asset as we continue to grow our pipeline to develop first-in-class treatments for cancers and other diseases with high unmet medical needs.”
Dr. Jeffrey brings 35 years of experience in preclinical, clinical and translational drug discovery to the team, having guided more than 25 compounds into patients. He was formerly head of translational sciences at Pfizer in Boston, where he was responsible for shaping translational science strategy across all stages of the rare disease research unit portfolio. Previously, he held a range of senior positions in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics and translational sciences at GlaxoSmithKline. He is an honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London, a member of the editorial board for the British Journal of Pharmacology and Xenobiotica and has authored over 60 peer reviewed papers and 4 book chapters. He has a Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism from the University of Sheffield.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Jeffrey said, “Bicycle is creating an entirely new therapeutic class of highly targeted, uniquely versatile medicines with strong potential to address the clinical needs of patients with a range of serious diseases. It’s rare to have the opportunity to be involved with such a novel technology, and I am very excited to be able to help the team shape and expand the portfolio and contribute to Bicycle’s efforts to make life-changing impacts on patients.”
About Bicycle Therapeutics
Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a unique class of chemically synthesized medicines based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle™) product platform to address therapeutic needs unreachable with existing treatment modalities. Bicycle’s internal focus is in oncology, where the company is developing targeted cytotoxics (Bicycle Toxin Conjugates™), targeted innate immune activators and T-cell modulators for cancers of high unmet medical need. Bicycles’ small size and exquisite targeting deliver rapid tumor penetration and retention while clearance rates and routes of elimination can be tuned to minimize exposure of healthy tissue and bystander toxicities. The company’s lead program, BT1718, is being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa trial in collaboration with Cancer Research UK. The company’s unique intellectual property is based on the work initiated at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, U.K., by the scientific founders of the company, Sir Gregory Winter, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work in phage display of peptides and antibodies, and Professor Christian Heinis. Bicycle has its headquarters in Cambridge, U.K., with many key functions and members of its leadership team located in the biotech hub of Boston, Mass. For more information, visit www.bicycletherapeutics.com or follow us on Twitter at @Bicycle_tx.
