Merck, a global biopharmaceutical company based in Rahway, and Mayo Clinic have announced a partnership to use artificial intelligence and advanced data tools for drug discovery and development. The collaboration will integrate Mayo Clinic’s secure technology platform and clinical and genomic datasets with Merck’s AI-powered “virtual cell” technology. This approach aims to improve understanding of diseases, identify new drug targets, and guide decisions on which treatments to develop.
Through the Mayo Clinic Platform, Merck will access clinical and genetic information from Mayo Clinic and its global partners. This platform combines patient and research data securely, allowing Merck to use AI tools to study diseases more effectively. The agreement also gives Merck direct access to Mayo Clinic’s medical experts, de-identified patient data, analytics tools, and scalable solutions through the new Mayo Clinic Platform_Orchestrate program.
Merck plans to use Mayo Clinic’s multimodal data—including laboratory results, medical imaging, clinical notes, and molecular data—to validate AI models and support research translation into drug discovery strategies.
“New cutting-edge technologies are enhancing our ability to innovate with the potential to bring important new therapies to patients faster,” said Robert M. Davis, Chairman and CEO of Merck.
“By working with Mayo Clinic, we aim to integrate high-quality clinical data and AI-enabled insights into discovery research to improve target identification and, ultimately, the probability of success for our programs,” Davis added.
This is the first time Mayo Clinic has entered a strategic collaboration of this scale with a global biopharmaceutical company. The initial focus will be on three therapeutic areas: inflammatory bowel disease in gastroenterology; atopic dermatitis in dermatology; and multiple sclerosis in neurology.
“By combining Mayo Clinic Platform’s de-identified data, clinical expertise and Platform technology with Merck’s world-class research and development capabilities, we are poised to speed innovative breakthroughs to patients and redefine drug development,” said Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., President and CEO of Mayo Clinic.
“This collaboration represents a new present and future for healthcare—one where platform-based collaboration leads to more answers, more cures and better outcomes for patients worldwide,” Farrugia said.
