Dualitas Launches With $65 Million Series A to Advance Novel Bispecific Antibody Pipeline in Immune and Inflammatory Disease

– Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA co-led financing with participation from founding investor SV Health Investors and new strategic investors Chugai Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and Company, and Alexandria Venture Investments

– Lead programs DTX-103 and DTX-102 targeting allergic and autoimmune diseases respectively, have generated compelling preclinical data when benchmarked against approved therapies 

– First-of-its-kind DualScreen™ discovery engine functionally identifies novel bispecific antibody candidates with differentiating biology, including via cell-surface proximity mechanisms, establishing robust partnering opportunities 

South San Francisco, CA – September 16, 2025 – Dualitas Therapeutics, Inc. [“Dualitas” Pronunciation: doo-AWL-ih-tahs] today launched from stealth with a $65 million Series A financing co-led by Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA, and participation from founding investor SV Health Investors and new strategic investors Chugai Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), and Alexandria Venture Investments.  

The funds will be used to advance a portfolio of next-generation bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), including lead programs DTX-103 in allergic disease and DTX-102 for autoimmune disease, and to accelerate the development of Dualitas’ proprietary DualScreen™ BsAb discovery engine. Unlike traditional, typically narrow, bispecific discovery approaches that pursue incremental gain, DualScreen operates at combinatorial scale to functionally identify candidates with highly differentiated activity, including through cell-surface proximity mechanisms, across the unexplored co-target space.   

“DTX-103 and DTX-102 demonstrate compelling preclinical profiles when benchmarked to commercially available therapies,” said Rich Murray, Ph.D., interim CEO and board member of Dualitas. “Current therapies for patients with allergic and autoimmune diseases leave important needs unmet, such as faster onset of action and more meaningful clinical benefit. Our lead programs, discovered from the DualScreen bispecific antibody discovery engine, are a new generation of bispecific antibodies aimed at addressing these patient needs.”

Dualitas is led by a team of experienced drug developers, world-class biotherapeutic engineers, immunologists, and business leaders with proven track records in developing antibody technologies from preclinical stages through product approvals. The senior management team includes Rich Murray Ph.D., interim CEO and board member, previously CEO of Jounce Therapeutics and senior vice president of Biologics and Vaccines at Merck; Forbes Huang, co-founder, chief operating officer and chief business officer, previously CEO of a Novo Holdings biotech startup and senior vice president Corporate Development at Gyroscope Therapeutics; Greg Lazar Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer, previously senior director at Genentech and group leader at Lilly; and Neil Weir Ph.D., executive chairman of the board at Dualitas and board member at Sitryx Therapeutics and Mestag Therapeutics, previously CEO of Sitryx and senior vice president Research at UCB. 

“With the Series A proceeds, Dualitas is now well-positioned to maximize the potential of its technology through a two-pronged strategy: advancing a pipeline that capitalizes on cell-surface proximity biology mechanisms, and pursuing strategic partnerships that extend the reach and impact of DualScreen-discovered candidates,” said Alicia Levey, Ph.D., venture partner at Versant Ventures and Dualitas board member.

“Since SV seeded Dualitas, we have been thrilled with the progress the company has made in developing its proprietary discovery engine and progressing a highly differentiated pipeline of bispecific antibodies toward the clinic, highlighted by DTX-103 in allergic disease and DTX-102 in autoimmunity,” said Nikola Trbovic, SV Health Investors managing partner and Dualitas board member.  

DualScreen™ Bispecific Discovery Engine

Dualitas’ first-of-its-kind DualScreen discovery engine uniquely integrates high-throughput discovery of novel BsAbs and cell-surface proximity mechanisms with rapid candidate optimization to final therapeutic format. Discoveries from this platform have shown the potential for greater pharmacologic activity than conventional biotherapeutics. Traditional BsAb discovery relies on a narrow set of pre-determined target pairs—drawn from known biology—to realize incremental gains. In contrast, DualScreen is scaled to functionally screen cell surfaceomes – the entire cell surface – across a vast range of targets and epitopes to identify BsAb combinations that are truly synergistic rather than simply additive. The same DualScreen discovery effort is producing an expanding collection of novel immune engagers—reusable antibody arms that can be plugged into a wide range of BsAbs to elicit repeatable and differentiated activity. These engagers can be paired with diverse targets as a BsAb to drive novel and compelling activity that monospecific agents cannot achieve. 

About Dualitas Therapeutics

Dualitas Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company pioneering next-generation bispecific antibody (BsAb) therapies for immunology and inflammation (I&I). Dualitas' portfolio, built from its DualScreen discovery engine, includes lead programs DTX-103 in allergic disease and DTX-102 in autoimmune disease, with numerous other discoveries based on cell-surface proximity biology and novel co-target pairing. While advancing its own pipeline, Dualitas offers a variety of strategic collaboration opportunities to extend the impact of its DualScreen discovery engine, ranging from existing pipeline programs to identifying de novo BsAbs, to establishing programs in disease areas beyond I&I. For more information, please visit www.dualitastx.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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Media:
Tara Cooper
The Grace Group
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