Collaborations continue to grow in the pharmaceutical sector as Flagship Pioneering announces two new agreements under its established collaboration with GSK and Valo health announces its new collaboration with Merck KGaA.

Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering announced collaborations with ProFound Therapeutics and Quotient Therapeutics, entering into separate feasibility agreements with GSK under GSK and Flagship’s previously established collaboration.¹ The new agreements mark the first company-focused deals to be signed under GSK and Flagship’s framework collaboration effort formed back in July, 2024, combining GSK's disease area expertise and development capabilities with Flagship's ecosystem of bioplatform companies, including its novel modalities and technologies.¹

Under the agreement, ProFound will leverage its ProFoundry Platform, combining state-of-the-art protein detection technologies, targeted high-throughput functional validation methods, and advanced computational tools, to unearth a rich source of differentiated potential protein drugs and drug targets from the expanded human proteome, a vast set of previously unrecognized proteins encoded by the human genome.¹

Through two separate agreements, ProFound is expected to advance foundational discoveries characterizing novel proteins with strong genetic associations with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), while also examining their therapeutic relevance for these diseases.¹

As for Quotient, the collaboration will employ its cutting-edge Somatic Genomics platform, holding the potential to unlock new therapeutic strategies across any disease by studying the natural, acquired genetic diversity present in patients.¹ Through three separate agreements, Quotient will use its somatic genomics technology to identify disease-causal drug targets that have the potential to create breakthrough medicines for COPD, IPF and Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH).

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK is granted the ability to elect if it wants to progress into a further collaboration, in which ProFound and Quotient will then advance their respective programs through key preclinical activities, after which GSK will have the exclusive option to advance the programs into clinical studies.¹

"Flagship Pioneering and GSK have a shared mission to accelerate the development of breakthrough medicines for patients with the greatest unmet needs by combining innovative new technologies with deep drug development expertise," said Paul Biondi, managing partner of Flagship Pioneering. "These agreements bring together two pioneering approaches to advance innovative treatments for respiratory and liver diseases, and to identify novel and differentiated targets that may alter the course of disease.”

Valo Health

Valo Health announced its new strategic collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, advancing therapeutic discovery for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.² The collaboration is expected to leverage Valo’s AI-enabled human causal biology platform, identifying and validating novel disease targets, along with its closed loop discovery platform which rapidly generates preclinical compounds.

Per the terms of the agreement, Valo and Merck KGaA’s partnership includes an upfront payment as well as potential milestone payments estimated to be over $3 billion, along with royalties and R&D funding.²

“We look forward to partnering with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leader in developing novel therapeutics for neurological conditions, to expand their pipeline of drug candidates for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders,” said Brian Alexander, MD, MPH, CEO, Valo Health. “Starting with human causal biology in vast amounts of real-world data allows us to unravel the complexity of heterogeneous diseases like Parkinson’s and start experimentation with human validated mechanisms, giving us greater confidence that a target will translate into a successful therapeutic candidate.”

Sources

1. Flagship Pioneering Announces New Agreements with ProFound Therapeutics and Quotient Therapeutics Under its Collaboration with GSK Flagship Pioneering November 20, 2025 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flagship-pioneering-announces-new-agreements-with-profound-therapeutics-and-quotient-therapeutics-under-its-collaboration-with-gsk-302621224.html
2. Valo Health Announces Collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany to Discover and Develop Novel Treatments for Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders Valo Health November 20, 2025 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251119408649/en/Valo-Health-Announces-Collaboration-with-Merck-KGaA-Darmstadt-Germany-to-Discover-and-Develop-Novel-Treatments-for-Parkinsons-Disease-and-Related-Disorders