Merck partnered with Quotient Therapeutics to use Quotient’s somatic genomics platform for inflammatory bowel disease target discovery. Merck will pay $20 million upfront for access to the platform, with potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones that could raise total deal value to more than $2 billion. Quotient, a Flagship Pioneering-backed company founded in 2022, uses nanorate genome sequencing to identify somatic mutations accumulating in patient cells over time. The company then applies AI-based analysis to connect mutation patterns to pathways that could yield druggable targets, with platform data across multiple diseases. The Merck agreement comes shortly after Quotient expanded partnerships with other large pharma players, underscoring Merck’s continued emphasis on immunology and genomics-driven target hunting in IBD. For Quotient, the deal marks the third major partnership in a short window. Strategically, the partnership signals ongoing confidence that somatic mutation signals within diseased tissues can improve the odds of selecting targets in complex inflammatory disorders where conventional genetics has delivered limited therapeutic clarity.