Cyclerion partners with Medsteer for depression treatment development

Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCN) announced a strategic collaboration with Medsteer to develop CYC-126, an investigational therapy for treatment-resistant depression.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company entered an application-specific, exclusive collaboration agreement with Medsteer, which specializes in anesthetic delivery systems. The partnership builds on an existing development collaboration between the companies.

CYC-126 is designed as an anesthetic-based therapy that uses real-time patient feedback for treating treatment-resistant depression. The treatment combines anesthetic agents with real-time EEG monitoring and algorithm-guided dosing to guide patients toward targeted brain states potentially associated with antidepressant effects.

Under the agreement, Cyclerion gains access to Medsteer's EEG-guided closed-loop control technology, including computational control modules, control software, and annotated datasets. Medsteer's technology has been tested across more than 25 clinical settings involving over 9,000 patients.

The collaboration covers applications beyond neuropsychiatric diseases but excludes use in major surgery, intensive care units, or medical transport contexts.

Cyclerion plans to initiate a multinational Phase 2 proof-of-concept study of CYC-126 in the second half of 2026. The company expects to begin patient enrollment in Australia under the Clinical Trial Notification pathway, with initial clinical data anticipated in 2027.

The company will host a webcast featuring Dr. Husseini Manji, a neuroscience expert and member of the National Academy of Medicine, to discuss the collaboration and business updates.

Cyclerion expects to use primarily FDA-cleared device components combined with Medsteer's technology and a previously announced MIT license to complete its proprietary drug delivery system before the Phase 2 study begins.

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