Description Circle Pharma operates an indication-agnostic discovery engine for the development of cell permeable macrocyclic peptide therapeutics. Our discovery engine combines computational structure-based design with automated, fully synthetic chemistry. In our computational design workflow, we generate and screen large virtual libraries of diverse macrocycles for intrinsic cell permeability and target affinity, enabling us to tackle important intracellular targets, including protein-protein interactions, as well as to achieve oral bioavailability. Our automated chemistry synthesis capability enables us to assess, in parallel, multiple design hypotheses for a given target, and to rapidly explore structure activity relationships (SAR) for hit to lead progression.
We are working on important therapeutic targets that are challenging to address with conventional small molecules or biologics, but which are well suited for macrocycles. Our initial focus is on intracellular protein-protein interactions that are key drivers in oncology pathways.