Encycle Therapeutics, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, was included in BioCentury‘s companies to watch within the macrocycle chemistry space.

The reference came in Chris Cain‘s article, “Maturing macrocycle chemistry drives explosion of biotech newcos, biopharma deals.”

Here’s an excerpt:

New synthesis and screening technologies and the allure of access to previously undruggable targets are driving an explosion of new company formation and deal-making around macrocycles and constrained peptides.

While it remains to be seen whether the in vitro promise of these platforms will translate into viable drug candidates, the clinical successes of macrocyclic natural products provide tantalizing hints of what could be achieved by the systematic exploration of this compound class.

. . .

The newest disclosed company in the space is Encycle Therapeutics Inc., which was spun out of the University of Toronto by MaRS Innovation to commercialize the work of Andrei Yudin, a professor of chemistry at the university. The company is developing compounds dubbed nacellins using proprietary amphoteric cyclization reagents.

While the technology can be used to cyclize peptides or non-peptidic molecules, Yudin said he plans to focus on smaller ring structures of 9-18 atoms. The company was incorporated in January and has raised $1 million in seed funding largely from the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM).

The full article on macrocycle chemistry is available on BioCentury’s website.

Update: Encycle’s involvement in macrocycle chemistry was also covered by blogger Derek Lowe, who has written about medicinal chemistry for over 10 years. His blog, “In the Pipeline,” covers the drug discovery and the pharma industry in general on Corante.com.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, marketing and communications manager