Merck and Mayo Clinic have entered a research and development collaboration focused on applying artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to drug discovery and early-stage development.

The Rahway, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company will work with the Rochester, Minnesota-based nonprofit health system to integrate multimodal clinical and genomic data into its research programs. The effort combines Merck’s artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities with Mayo Clinic Platform, a data and analytics environment that includes deidentified clinical data sets, registries, and biorepositories drawn from Mayo Clinic and its partner network.

Under the agreement, Merck will use Mayo Clinic’s multimodal data, including laboratory results, medical imaging, clinical notes and molecular data, to validate AI models and inform target identification and early development decisions. The companies said the collaboration will initially focus on inflammatory bowel disease in gastroenterology, atopic dermatitis in dermatology and multiple sclerosis in neurology.
Robert M. Davis, chairman and CEO, Merck, said, “New cutting-edge technologies are enhancing our ability to innovate, with the potential to bring important new therapies to patients faster. 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."

Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic, said, “By combining Mayo Clinic Platform's deidentified 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. 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."

Mayo Clinic described the agreement as its first strategic collaboration of this scale with a global biopharmaceutical company. The initiative builds on Merck’s broader investments in AI-enabled discovery, including work in computational and spatial biology and real-world data analysis.

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