Quotient Therapeutics and Merck sign a multi-year collaboration to identify new drug targets in inflammatory bowel disease using somatic genomics.

Quotient Therapeutics has entered a multi-year research collaboration with Merck to identify novel drug targets in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using its somatic genomics platform.

The agreement will see Quotient apply its technology to analyse somatic mutations across patient tissues, aiming to uncover genetic changes that either drive or protect against disease. These insights could support the development of new therapeutic approaches in IBD, where disease-modifying treatments remain limited despite a large global patient population.

Somatic mutations accumulate naturally over time, creating significant genetic variation within an individual. Quotient’s platform is designed to interrogate these variations at scale, identifying clinically relevant signals that may not be captured through traditional genomic approaches focused on inherited mutations.

Rahul Kakkar, president and chief executive officer of Quotient Therapeutics, said: “The combination of Merck’s deep drug development and global commercial expertise with our unbiased, disease- and modality-agnostic somatic genomics platform could redefine how IBD is understood and treated.” He added that the collaboration aims to broaden the reach of the platform and support the development of new therapies for patients.

Merck will contribute drug development and immunology expertise to the partnership, as it continues to expand its pipeline in immune-mediated diseases. Marc Levesque, vice president, discovery, Merck Research Laboratories, said: “Quotient’s platform has the potential to provide us with unique biological insights into genomic changes that are naturally occurring within patients with IBD.” He added: “Millions of people globally are living with this disease, and no disease-modifying treatments are currently available.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Quotient will receive an upfront payment of $20 million and is eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. The total potential value of the deal could reach $2.2 billion, reflecting the scale of interest in early-stage target discovery platforms.

The collaboration highlights continued investment by large pharmaceutical companies in earlier-stage research, particularly in areas such as genomics-driven target identification. While many partnerships in recent years have focused on de-risked clinical assets, this agreement signals ongoing interest in upstream discovery approaches that may generate first-in-class therapies.

However, as with many early-stage collaborations, the impact will depend on whether the platform can translate genomic insights into viable drug targets and, ultimately, clinical candidates.