Merck KGaA Expands AI Ventures with New Strategic Partnership

Merck KGaA is making significant strides in the field of artificial intelligence by entering a new partnership with technology firm Iktos. This collaboration will leverage Iktos’ generative modeling technology to accelerate the discovery and design of innovative new compounds in drug development. Iktos’ AI technology harnesses deep generative models to create virtual novel molecules with specific activities aimed at treating various diseases.

The company highlights that this approach addresses a crucial challenge in drug design: the swift identification of molecules that fulfill multiple drug-like criteria necessary for clinical testing. While this technology has already proven effective in other domains, including image processing and automatic translation, its application in chemistry is a recent advancement.

Belén Garijo, a member of Merck’s executive board and CEO of healthcare, stated, “This agreement exemplifies our commitment to enhance our discovery engine through strategic, technology-driven collaborations. Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a cornerstone of the biopharmaceutical R&D framework, offering us unparalleled opportunities to merge our extensive expertise with increased speed and improved precision. Ultimately, this could result in quicker access to groundbreaking treatment options for patients.”

This marks Merck’s second venture into AI within just a few months; late last year, the company initiated a year-long licensing agreement with Canadian research and development firm Cyclica, utilizing AI to identify new drug targets and predict potential side effects. Unlike traditional small molecule drug development, which typically targets specific disease-associated proteins, Cyclica’s method accounts for the numerous interactions that can take place before a drug is metabolized and eliminated from the body. This technology models interactions between small molecules and known proteins, facilitating the identification of favorable ‘on-target’ interactions and highlighting any unintended ‘off-target’ adverse effects.

Merck is not alone in its pursuit of AI partnerships to enhance drug discovery efforts; this trend is becoming increasingly widespread across the industry. For instance, Novo Nordisk recently forged a partnership with UK-based biotech e-Therapeutics to employ AI-driven drug discovery technology aimed at uncovering new treatments for type 2 diabetes. Additionally, InveniAI has teamed up with Kyowa Hakko Kirin to explore novel applications for drugs in their existing pipeline. Meanwhile, Bayer, Merck’s competitor, is also pursuing improvements in patient safety data monitoring via AI, having entered into a multi-year agreement with Genpact to utilize its Pharmacovigilance AI solutions.