UCB agreed to acquire Candid Therapeutics for up to $2.2 billion to expand its footprint in T-cell engager (TCE) antibodies for immunology, adding Candid’s bispecific and trispecific pipeline. The deal also ends Candid’s earlier plan to pursue a reverse merger with Rallybio, which would have kept Candid’s name and shifted development using new financing. Candid’s lead asset, cizutamig (CND-106), is a BCMA/CD3 bispecific antibody currently in multiple Phase 1 programs across autoimmune indications, with clinical evaluation already reported in more than 100 patients including completed work in multiple myeloma and studies in China and Europe. Candid also has CND261 (CD20 x CD3) in a completed 93-patient Phase 1 dose-escalation study in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, plus IND-enabling trispecific programs CND319 and CND460. Strategically, UCB said the acquisition advances an “immune reset” approach built on China-originated assets, an area that continues to attract big-pharma scale-up in 2026.