Cyclica teams with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for non-hormonal contraceptives

An Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker counsels a couple during a home visit in Uttar Pradesh, India. ©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Prashant Panjiar

NON-HORMONAL CONTRACEPTIVES COULD BE A GAME-CHANGER

Gender equality is one of the major themes of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose vision is a more gender-equal world by addressing the barriers that keep women from being fully active in their homes, economies, and societies. The foundation is working to empower women and girls to take charge of their own health, enabling them to make informed decisions about family planning — and to have access to contraceptive options that meet their needs.

THE HUNT FOR A NEW CONTRACEPTIVE

Historically, hormone-based contraceptives are known to cause wide-ranging side effects that reduce their appeal in these countries. A widely available non-hormonal contraceptive would provide an additional safe, effective choice for women and girls looking to take charge of their reproductive health.

Which is why Cyclica, a Canadian biotechnology company, is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discover the non-hormonal contraceptive that will reshape the destiny of these women and girls. Cyclica will apply its AI-driven platform to dramatically shorten the path to the clinic — and to market.

CYCLICA — A NEO-BIOTECH

Cyclica’s vision is to open new frontiers in drug discovery by matching the chemical universe to the entire protein universe. By exploring the entire protein universe, Cyclica is industrializing drug discovery by creating a large, sustainable, and risk-adjusted portfolio of drug programs. Unlike a biotech company that works on one or a small number of programs, the team at Cyclica is working on dozens—and eventually hundreds—of programs that leverage the scale of our AI-augmented drug discovery platform. Cyclica strives to eliminate the risk of a single program across a diversified portfolio or programs by addressing the ever-increasing need in our industry: more discovery programs, faster, and across novel and untapped target classes.

WHAT’S NEXT

Cyclica will apply its validated, AI-enabled drug discovery platform to discover new therapeutic options for multiple low-data biological targets. This announcement further validates the success that Cyclica is achieving in the low-data target area to address unmet clinical needs. The project will demonstrate how Cyclica’s approach can progress drug candidates to the clinic on a faster and less costly trajectory than that offered by traditional methods.

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