Drug developer Dualitas launches $65 million funding round

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By Siddhi Mahatole

(Reuters) -San Francisco-based biotech Dualitas Therapeutics said on Tuesday it has launched a $65 million early-stage funding round, and plans to use the proceeds to develop next-generation therapies for immunity-related diseases.

The series A funding round will be co-led by Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA, with pharmaceutical major Eli Lilly also participating, Dualitas said.

The company did not disclose its valuation in the funding round.

Dualitas, founded in 2023, joins companies such as Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Amgen and Roche that are developing drugs from a class called bispecific antibody.

This type of therapy simultaneously binds to two different molecules in a patients’ immune system, compared with traditional monoclonal antibodies that have only one target.

Dualitas will use the proceeds to advance its two lead candidates, DTX-103 for asthma and DTX-102 for rheumatoid arthritis.

Both therapies have shown promising data in early studies when compared with approved treatments, Dualitas said, adding that it will look for a partner to further develop one of the candidates.

“We actually think both of them look extremely compelling based on the data sets,” Forbes Huang, co-founder and chief operating officer of Dualitas, told Reuters in an interview.

The company said it will also use the funds to further develop its proprietary drug discovery platform, DualScreen, to expand its pipeline into broader therapeutic areas, including cancer and rare diseases.

The funding round also included founding investor SV Health Investors and new strategic backers such as Chugai Venture Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments.

(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)