Roche and Dualitas Therapeutics have entered a research collaboration and licence agreement that could reach a potential value of up to $1bn, aiming to discover and develop bispecific antibodies for immunology and inflammation (I&I) diseases.
Under this arrangement, Dualitas will use its DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine to functionally screen more than 300,000 new bispecific combinations.
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The company is set to receive $36.5m in upfront payments and could become eligible for additional research, development and commercial milestone payments, alongside tiered royalties.
Once bispecific antibody candidates are identified, Roche will take over all subsequent stages of preclinical development, regulatory activities, manufacturing and commercialisation.
The collaboration is expected to leverage Dualitas’ capabilities in proximity biology to produce bispecific antibody therapeutics with synergistic activities, pursuing opportunities that conventional antibody therapies may not provide.
Dualitas co-founder, chief operating officer and chief business officer Forbes Huang said: “We are thrilled to partner with Roche on this first-of-its-kind collaboration to functionally screen and develop novel proximity BsAbs at a scale that was previously unachievable.
“Since founding Dualitas in 2023, we have established our DualScreen discovery engine as the premier technology for discovering next-generation proximity BsAbs, as exemplified by our robust therapeutic pipeline entering clinic next year for I&I diseases.”
Roche, which maintains a portfolio that includes bispecific antibodies, intends to advance its efforts in I&I through this and other external collaborations.
Roche corporate business development head Boris Zaïtra said: “Bispecific antibodies remain central to Roche’s portfolio strategy across many disease areas.
“We are committed to continue pushing the boundaries of scientific innovation in immunology and inflammation diseases that will ultimately benefit patients through external partnerships.”
Dualitas is developing several antibody candidates, including DTX-101, DTX-102 and DTX-103 for a range of autoimmune and allergic conditions.
Last month, Roche conducted its joint-largest deal of the year so far, licensing a clinical-stage UCN2 [urocortin-2] analogue being developed for weight loss by South Korea-based Hanmi Pharm.
