Merck & Co. will apply Quotient Therapeutics’ somatic genomics platform to identify novel drug targets in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) under a collaboration that could generate up to $2.2 billion for the four-year-old startup. Quotient’s approach focuses on DNA changes acquired in non-reproductive cells within diseased tissue, rather than inherited (germline) variants. Quotient said its platform builds patient tissue “ground truth” for targets that emerge from the cellular context of disease—data the company positions as a foundation for downstream AI and structured target evaluation. The company also highlighted its somatic database growth, citing millions of novel coding mutations. For Merck, the deal extends its genomics strategy into non-germline biology—an area increasingly viewed as critical for understanding heterogeneous immune-mediated diseases like IBD.