Partnership Forms to Advance Oral Macrocyclic Peptide Therapies for Immunological Diseases
A strategic research collaboration has been announced by Biogen and Dayra Therapeutics aimed at the discovery and development of oral macrocyclic peptides that could disrupt traditional antibody-based treatments.
American biotech, Biogen Inc., and biotech startup Dayra Therapeutics, have agreed a research collaboration to discover and develop oral macrocyclic peptides for priority targets of immunological conditions. The partnership will leverage Dayra’s advanced macrocycle peptide discovery platform and be supported by Biogen’s extensive development and commercialization capabilities to bring novel oral treatments with biologic-like efficacy and safety to patients suffering from immunological diseases (1).
Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen will provide Dayra with a USD 50 million upfront payment with options to acquire their individual development candidates. The deal could trigger additional payments to Dayra, who are also set to receive milestone payments linked to preclinical and clinical development progress for each program.
“With this collaboration, we are adding another potential best-in-class approach to our early-stage portfolio to target multiple high-value immunological conditions,” said Jane Grogan, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research at Biogen, in a company press release (1). “Building on multiple technical advances in the field, we believe Dayra Therapeutics’ state-of-the-art macrocycle discovery platform could help realize the full potential of macrocycle-based treatments.”
“This agreement with Biogen marks an important milestone as we advance our next generation oral macrocyclic peptides against clinically validated immunological targets,” added Rami Hannoush, Ph.D., venture partner at Versant Ventures and Dayra’s acting CEO, in the press release (1). “With Biogen’s expertise and deep commitment to developing new treatment options for immunological conditions, we look forward to working together to unlock the potential of this innovative class of medicines.”
Peptides are positioned as a "Goldilocks" drug size class — between small molecule drugs and large biologics. However, peptide’s native structure, which has traditionally been the inspiration for peptide drugs, results in poor stability in the gastrointestinal tract and low permeability/bioavailability, meaning they need to be intravenously or subcutaneously administered (2).
Macrocyclization of peptides has emerged as a useful approach to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of peptides, enabling the regulation of protein–protein interactions. Additionally, researchers have further expanded their work and applied non-canonical amino acids to macrocyclic peptide drugs, allowing for fine-tuning of various properties, including oral bioavailability (2). Oral macrocyclic peptides are promising as they not only allow for oral administration but also have the potential for higher specificity and targeting than traditional small-molecule drugs.
The Biogen-Dayra partnership is an example of collaboration within the biotech industry where cutting-edge platform technologies and strategic partnerships are driving the rapid development of next-generation medicines for complex diseases.
As part of its expanded immunology strategy, Biogen aims to diversify and strengthen its pipeline with novel therapeutic modalities that offer the promise of improved patient convenience and potentially better safety profiles compared to traditional injectable biologics. Dayra Therapeutics, a recently launched startup founded by Versant Ventures — a venture capital firm known for backing high-potential early-stage biotech companies — combines advanced macrocycle discovery platforms with computational design to develop oral macrocyclic peptide therapies.
References
Biogen. Biogen and Dayra Therapeutics Announce Research Collaboration to Discover and Develop Oral Macrocyclic Peptides for a Range of Immunological Conditions. Press Release, Nov. 24, 2025.
Hickey, J.L.; Sindhikara, D.; Zultanski, S.L.; Schultz, D.M. Beyond 20 in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges of Non-Canonical Amino Acids in Peptide Drug Discovery. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2023, 14 (5), 557–565.