Biogen Partners with Dayra Therapeutics in $50 Million Deal to Develop Oral Macrocyclic Peptides for Immunological Conditions
Key Insights
Biogen and Dayra Therapeutics (search) announced a research collaboration to discover and develop oral macrocyclic peptides (search) targeting immunological conditions (search), with Biogen providing a $50 million upfront payment.
The partnership aims to advance oral macrocyclic peptides (search) that offer biologic-like efficacy and safety in a convenient oral format, potentially disrupting established antibody-based treatments.
Dayra will be eligible for additional milestone payments per program, while Biogen retains options to acquire development candidates and advance them through commercialization.
Biogen Inc. and Dayra Therapeutics (search) announced a research collaboration to discover and develop oral macrocyclic peptides (search) for priority targets in immunological conditions (search), with Biogen providing a $50 million upfront payment to the newly founded biotech company. The partnership represents a strategic expansion of Biogen's immunology portfolio through the incorporation of an innovative drug modality that combines the specificity of biologics with the convenience of oral administration.
Novel Drug Modality Targets Challenging Protein Sites
Oral macrocyclic peptides (search) represent a promising class of medicines that can be orally administered while maintaining the potential for higher specificity compared to traditional small molecule drugs. According to the companies, these compounds can target protein binding sites that are currently challenging for conventional small molecule approaches, offering biologic-like efficacy and safety in an oral format that could potentially disrupt established antibody-based treatments.
"With this collaboration, we are adding another potential best-in-class approach to our early-stage portfolio to target multiple high-value immunological conditions (search)," said Jane Grogan, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research at Biogen. "Building on multiple technical advances in the field, we believe Dayra Therapeutics (search)' state-of-the-art macrocycle discovery platform could help realize the full potential of macrocycle-based treatments."
Collaboration Structure and Financial Terms
Under the agreement terms, Biogen and Dayra will collaborate to identify, validate and optimize oral macrocycle candidates for high-priority immunological targets. Biogen will advance the molecules through further development and potential commercialization, including manufacturing responsibilities. Beyond the $50 million upfront payment, Biogen has secured options to acquire development candidates from Dayra Therapeutics (search) for potential additional payments per program.
Dayra Therapeutics (search) will also be eligible to receive preclinical and clinical development milestone payments per program. The upfront payment will be recorded by Biogen as an Acquired In-Process Research and Development expense in the fourth quarter of 2025 and was included in Biogen's updated guidance for 2025 provided on October 30, 2025.
Dayra's Platform and Leadership
Dayra Therapeutics (search), founded in 2024 by Versant Ventures (search) through the firm's Frontier Discovery Engine, combines its macrocycle discovery platform with computational design and modeling to advance novel macrocyclic peptides that selectively target disease-relevant proteins. The company is pioneering the development of oral macrocyclic peptide therapeutics to treat a range of human diseases.
"This agreement with Biogen marks an important milestone as we advance our next generation oral macrocyclic peptides (search) against clinically validated immunological targets," said Rami Hannoush, Ph.D., venture partner at Versant Ventures (search) and Dayra's acting CEO. "With Biogen's expertise and deep commitment to developing new treatment options for immunological conditions (search), we look forward to working together to unlock the potential of this innovative class of medicines."
Strategic Implications for Biogen's Immunology Focus
The collaboration further advances Biogen's immunology strategy by broadening its early-stage pipeline and incorporating an additional clinically validated modality into its expanding immunology capabilities. Founded in 1978, Biogen positions itself as a leading biotechnology company that pioneers innovative science to deliver new medicines, applying deep understanding of human biology and leveraging different modalities to advance first-in-class treatments or therapies that deliver superior outcomes.