Scholar Rock Holding Corp. said it will receive a $25 million payment from Gilead Sciences Inc. as part of a collaboration agreement between the companies.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Scholar Rock and Gilead are collaborating to discover and develop treatments for fibrosis, a disease that scars tissues and vital organs and can be fatal.

The milestone payment was triggered by the successful demonstration of efficacy in preclinical studies of selective inhibitors for latent transforming growth factor-beta, or TGF-B, which is activated in fibrotic diseases.

Under the collaboration, Scholar Rock received $80 million up front — $50 million in cash and $30 million investment in Scholar Rock's common shares — from Gilead. In addition to this milestone payment, Scholar Rock is eligible to receive up to an additional $1.43 billion from Gilead on achieving certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones.

Gilead holds the exclusive option to license worldwide rights to products developed as part of Scholar Rock's three TGF-B programs.

Scholar Rock is responsible for the discovery and preclinical research of potential products, while Gilead after exercising its option will conduct preclinical and clinical development as well as commercialization of the selected programs.