Roche has agreed to pay Dualitas Therapeutics $36.5 million upfront for access to the DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine, a platform that can screen more than 300,000 bispecific antibody combinations for immunology and inflammation. The deal could be worth up to $1 billion if all milestones are met, according to BioSpace.
Unlike a typical asset licensing deal, Roche is not acquiring a specific drug candidate. Instead, it gets access to the DualScreen platform itself and will handle all preclinical, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercial work for any programs it decides to move forward. Roche can select a limited number of programs from the DualScreen campaign, while Dualitas keeps the rights to any candidates Roche does not pursue. Pharmaceutical Technology notes that this is one of the largest bispecific discovery deals announced to date.
Reuters-syndicated coverage described the deal as a strategic move by Roche to find new experimental medicines for immune diseases, reiterating the same economics: $36.5 million upfront, up to $1 billion total, plus royalties.
Dualitas, based in South San Francisco, says its DualScreen platform can analyze the proximity biology of entire cell surfaces, helping to find bispecific antibody candidates with combined activities that standard approaches might miss. The company believes this opens up new possibilities for targeting a wide range of disease pathways.
No specific drug candidate has been chosen yet. Roche is betting that the platform will generate promising leads, with the option to advance any selected candidates. Meanwhile, Dualitas continues to develop its own pipeline, including DTX-102 for rheumatoid arthritis (now in IND-enabling studies and aiming for clinical trials in 2027), DTX-103 for allergic disease, and DTX-101 for dermatologic and gastrointestinal autoimmune conditions. The Roche partnership runs alongside these internal programs.
Independent coverage confirms that Dualitas retains the ability to further develop any bispecific antibody candidates that Roche does not advance, ensuring the biotech can continue to build its own pipeline alongside the collaboration.
BioSpace, Industry News
This agreement comes about a year after Dualitas raised $65 million in a Series A round led by Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA, and soon after naming Karim Dabbagh as CEO and selecting DTX-102 as its lead internal candidate. The deal includes research, development, and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties, with the total value potentially reaching $1 billion if Roche advances programs successfully.
With Roche leading external programs and Dualitas keeping control of its own pipeline, the deal reflects a shift toward platform-based biotech partnerships. Access to discovery engines like DualScreen is now commanding premium terms. For Dualitas, the agreement brings both validation and funding, while Roche gains a shot at new immunology drugs in a crowded field.
