# Circle Pharma, Inc.

> Circle Pharma is a South San Francisco biotechnology company building intrinsically cell-permeable, orally available macrocycle therapeutics to hit cancer targets long considered undruggable. Spun out of UCSF and UC Santa Cruz in 2012, it pairs structure-based design, AI/ML, physics-based simulation, and advanced synthetic chemistry in its proprietary MXMO platform. Its lead program, CID-078, is a first-in-class oral cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor now in a Phase 1 trial for advanced solid tumors. The company has raised more than $200 million in total funding, including a $90 million Series D in 2024.

- **Founded:** 2012
- **Headquarters:** South San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Matthew P. Jacobson (Co-Founder; computational chemist, UCSF), R. Scott Lokey (Co-Founder; peptide chemist, UC Santa Cruz)
- **Team size:** ~67 employees
- **Products:** MXMO platform, CID-078, Cyclin D1 program
- **Notable:** Raised more than $200 million in total funding across seed through Series D., Closed a $90 million Series D financing in September 2024 led by The Column Group., Advanced CID-078, a first-and-only-in-class oral cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor, into the clinic.

## Products & services

- **MXMO platform** — Proprietary macrocycle discovery engine combining structure-based rational drug design, AI/ML, physics-based simulation, and advanced synthetic chemistry to design cell-permeable macrocycles deliverable by multiple routes, including oral.
- **CID-078** — Lead program; a first-and-only-in-class oral cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor in a Phase 1 clinical trial for advanced solid tumors, including cancers with elevated E2F transcription factor activity.
- **Cyclin D1 program** — Discovery-stage program targeting cyclin D1; first preclinical data presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.

## Achievements

- Raised more than $200 million in total funding across seed through Series D.
- Closed a $90 million Series D financing in September 2024 led by The Column Group.
- Advanced CID-078, a first-and-only-in-class oral cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor, into the clinic.
- Dosed first patients in the CID-078 Phase 1 trial for advanced solid tumors in late 2024.
- Presented first preclinical data from its cyclin D1 program at AACR-NCI-EORTC.
- Established an early macrocyclic-peptide library partnership with Pfizer.

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — Closed $90 million Series D financing to advance oral macrocycle therapies.
- **2024-09** — Expanded leadership team, including appointments in cancer biology and discovery technology sciences.
- **2024-10** — Announced first patients dosed in Phase 1 clinical trial of CID-078 for advanced solid tumors.
- **2026-01** — Scheduled to present at the 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

## Links

- Website: https://circlepharma.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/circle-pharma-inc-
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/CirclePharma
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/CirclePharma/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/circle-pharma-inc
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-15