Merck & Co. and Foghorn Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based gene-therapy company, have formed a strategic collaboration, in a deal worth up to $425 million, to discover and develop therapeutics against a transcription factor target relevant for cancer.

The target is one of its programs emerging from the Foghorn’s product platform focused on chromatin dysregulation. The chromatin system regulates which genes a cell expresses and when it expresses them. Dysregulation of the chromatin system is implicated in up to half of all cancer, according to information from Foghhorn.

Under the agreement, Foghorn will grant Merck exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize drugs that target dysregulation of a single transcription factor. Foghorn will receive an upfront payment and research milestones and will be eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestones potentially totaling up to $425 million as well as royalties on sales of any approved product from the collaboration.

Source: Foghorn Therapeutics