Merck & Co. has agreed to license a potential cancer treatment from SciBrunch Therapeutics in a deal that could be worth more than $2 billion to the privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company.

Merck on Monday said the agreement gives the Rahway, N.J., drugmaker exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize SPR2015, an engineered inhibitor for one of the most prevalent mutant forms of the KRAS gene found in human cancers.

Merck said it is making a $400 million upfront payment to SciBrunch. The clinical-stage biotech company is also eligible to receive milestone payments associated to development, commercialization and other activities across multiple indications that could bring the total potential value of the transaction to $2.13 billion.

Merck said it will record a pretax charge of $400 million, or about 13 cents a share, in the third quarter related to the transaction, which has closed.