Roche and Dualitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation bispecific antibody therapies for immunology and inflammation (I&I) diseases, have announced a research collaboration and license agreement with to advance novel bispecific antibodies for I&I diseases
In what is believed to be one of the largest-scale bispecific discovery endeavours, Dualitas will use its DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine to functionally screen over 300,000 novel bispecific combinations to discover and develop bispecific antibody (BsAb) therapeutics. Roche will be responsible for all subsequent preclinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial activities.
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay Dualitas $36.5m upfront, with additional research, development and commercial milestone payments for a potential total deal value of up to $1bn, in addition to tiered royalties.
“Bispecific antibodies remain central to Roche’s portfolio strategy across many disease areas,” said Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Corporate Business Development at Roche. “We are committed to continue pushing the boundaries of scientific innovation in immunology and inflammation diseases that will ultimately benefit patients through external partnerships.”
The collaboration will leverage Dualitas’ expertise in proximity biology to develop BsAb candidates with synergistic activities that are unattainable with conventional therapeutics.
“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,” said Forbes Huang, co-founder, chief operating officer and chief business officer of Dualitas. “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.”
“This collaboration with Roche underscores the enormous potential of Dualitas’ technologies to identify BsAbs that harness novel proximity mechanisms that may deliver truly differentiated results to patients,” said Karim Dabbagh, CEO and board member of Dualitas. “Our internal pipeline of proximity engager BsAbs has already demonstrated the ability to drive amplified therapeutic effects that push the boundary of what conventional antibody therapies can achieve. This collaboration extends our therapeutic innovations while we continue to develop our internal pipeline.”