Roche signs $1bn antibody deal with Dualitas

Roche has entered a research collaboration and licence agreement with Dualitas Therapeutics that could reach up to $1 billion in total value. The deal focuses on discovering and developing bispecific antibodies for immunology and inflammation diseases.

Dualitas will receive $36.5 million in upfront payments. It may also earn research, development and commercial milestone payments, along with tiered royalties. The biotech firm will use its DualScreen platform to screen more than 300,000 new bispecific combinations. Once candidates are selected, Roche will manage all preclinical development, regulatory filings, manufacturing and global commercialisation.

Boris Zaïtra, head of corporate business development at Roche, stated that bispecific antibodies remain central to the company's portfolio strategy across multiple disease areas. He added that the group remains committed to advancing scientific innovation in immunology and inflammation through external partnerships.

Dualitas was founded in 2023 and is developing antibody candidates such as DTX-101, DTX-102 and DTX-103 for autoimmune and allergic conditions. For Roche, this follows an agreement in August to licence a clinical-stage urocortin-2 analogue for weight loss from South Korea-based Hanmi Pharm, which marked its joint-largest deal of the year.