Cycle Pharmaceuticals Secures $25 Million Debt Financing

Rare Daily Staff

Cycle Pharmaceuticals said it has executed an agreement with Deutsche Bank for a $25 million credit facility.

The financing will allow Cycle to build its pipeline of treatments for rare genetic diseases, which included oral treatments for Gaucher disease, phenylketonuria, and Huntington’s disease.

“Cycle’s agreement with Deutsche Bank provides us with the capital to swiftly and efficiently deliver drug treatments for many genetic rare disease patient groups that urgently need the quality-of-life improvements that the latest pharmaceutical technologies can offer,” said Antonio Benedetti, CEO of Cycle. “Cycle also provides individualized patient support services alongside its drug treatments to ensure that a rare disease patient’s needs are met to the greatest extent possible.”

Cycle, which was founded in 2012 with the aim of delivering best-in-class drug treatments and services to the under-served rare disease patient community. The UK-based company focuses on rare genetic metabolic disorders and neurological conditions and markets NITYR (nitisinone) tablets for the treatment of patients with hereditary tyrosinemia type 1, a rare autosomal recessive genetic metabolic disorder characterized by lack of the enzyme needed to break down of the amino acid tyrosine. It leads to the abnormal accumulation of tyrosine and its metabolites in the liver, potentially resulting in severe liver disease. Tyrosine may also accumulate in the kidneys and central nervous system.

Separately, the financing will also support the incorporation of Varsity Pharmaceuticals is as an independent business. Varsity’s mission is to develop and deliver oncology drug treatments focused on resolving the emerging resistance to PARP inhibitors and other existing drug classes. Varsity uses synthetic lethality approaches and builds on intellectual property developed at the Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge and licensed by Cambridge Enterprise to Varsity. Further preclinical work is expected to begin shortly in collaboration with the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge.

Photo: Antonio Benedetti, CEO of Cycle