The funding was led by Fountain Healthcare Partners, Forbion, and Andera Partners, with support from existing investors V-Bio Ventures, BGV, PMV, VIB, HTGF, and GFF.

In addition, Bernard Coulie, CEO of Pliant Therapeutics, joined Dualyx as independent chairman with immediate effect. Ena Prosser, Juliette Audet, and Aneta Sottil will join Dualyx's board as non-executive directors.

The Ghent, Belgium-based firm said that the funds will be used to progress its principal regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy for a range of autoimmune diseases, the DT-001 program, to its early clinical proof-of-concept phase, along with advancing other Treg therapies in its pipeline.

DT-001 targets the TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2), considered a master control switch in immune modulation. Pre-clinical research with DT-001 has yielded promising results, and investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies have begun.

"Attracting the expertise and support of top-tier investors to Dualyx highlights the potential of the work to date in our DT-001 program and more importantly, completes our high-quality international investor base," Wouter Verhoeven, CEO of Dualyx, said in a statement.