en.Wedoany.com Reported - Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. and biotechnology startup Quotient Therapeutics recently entered into a collaboration to jointly apply somatic genomics technology in the discovery of novel drug targets for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This collaboration has a total potential value of up to $22 billion, with Merck providing an upfront payment of $20 million to Quotient.

Somatic genomics focuses on studying DNA variations that occur in non-reproductive cells after an individual's birth. Quotient Therapeutics' platform analyzes patient tissues to identify somatic gene mutations associated with disease development or protection. Dr. Rahul Kakkar, President and CEO of Quotient, stated, "Somatic genomics is a key frontier for building high-quality data. We can filter and structure public data for any target based on this foundational truth."

Quotient claims to have established a somatic genomics database containing 3.6 million novel coding mutations. In comparison, the public database COSMIC holds over 5 million coding mutations, while the gnomAD database reports 9 million somatic mutations. Kakkar predicts, "In about three years, we will achieve what COSMIC accomplished over two decades; within approximately two years, we expect to reach or surpass the scale of gnomAD."

This collaboration stems from informal discussions between the two parties in recent years and accelerated last year. Kakkar revealed that the collaboration will focus on identifying somatic mutations enriched in human intestinal and colon cells, particularly in cell types that are either under immune attack or remain healthy during IBD. Quotient's platform possesses three years of somatic data from 806 donors, covering 16 disease indications, and contains over 6.6 million unique variants.

Quotient has previously established collaborations with Pfizer and GSK, focusing on novel drug development for cardiovascular and renal diseases, and respiratory and liver diseases, respectively. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and has a branch in Chesterford, UK. Kakkar noted that somatic genomics technology has broad applicability and can be used in almost any disease area, but the company needs to carefully select its primary research focus.

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