After seeing some of its financial momentum slow this year, Bicycle Therapeutics has received a push from two U.K. nuclear agencies, securing up to 400 tons of reprocessed uranium the biotech needs to develop lifesaving drugs.
The deal with the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority runs for 15 years with an option to renew for a “potentially sustainable” supply of 212Pb (lead-212)—a radioisotope that Bicycle is using to develop potential radioconjugate drugs against cancer—the company said in a Dec. 16 press release.
The reprocessed uranium at the center of the deal was generated "from historic processing of spent nuclear reactor fuel," the U.K. government said in a separate release announcing the deal.
Under another related collaboration with the U.K.'s National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL), Bicycle plans to harvest its therapeutic radioisotope from the regenerating uranium cache using a bespoke lead-212 generator developed exclusively for Bicycle by SpectronRx, the biotech said in its own press release this week.
Reprocessed uranium "will continually regenerate the isotopes required for this process, providing an enduring source of tens of thousands of doses of lead-212" each year, the U.K. government said earlier this week.
Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
“We believe we now have the resources and infrastructure we need to create the world’s first end-to-end 212Pb radiopharmaceutical ecosystem from discovery through development to commercial supply,” Mike Hannay, chief product and supply chain officer at Bicycle, said in a statement. “We believe the potential of BRCs [Bicycle radioconjugates] and our ability to incorporate the appropriate isotopes for specific patient needs is unique and creates significant value-creating capabilities.”
The deal also gives Bicycle a bit of momentum after what has proven to be a challenging financial year.
In August, Bicycle reported that it was reducing its headcount by about 25% in order to stretch its cash runway through 2028. The job cuts—the company had 305 employees at the end of 2024—were part of an effort by Bicycle to cut spending by 30% in the wake of Roche’s Genentech terminating a collaboration deal.
A Bicycle spokesman at the time said the layoffs were unrelated to the loss of the Genentech partnership.