Pharmaceutical giant Merck and healthcare leader Mayo Clinic are joining forces in a sweeping research and development collaboration aimed at transforming how new medicines are discovered and developed.

 

The agreement brings together Mayo Clinic’s vast clinical insights, genomic data and advanced platform architecture with Merck’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities — a move both organizations say could significantly accelerate precision medicine and improve the odds of drug development success.

 

At the center of the deal is the Mayo Clinic Platform, which aggregates de-identified clinical and multimodal data from Mayo Clinic’s U.S. operations and international partners in a secure environment. Through the collaboration, Merck will tap into clinical insights, genomic datasets, registries and biorepositories — alongside AI-enabled discovery tools spanning computational and spatial biology.

 

The partnership marks Mayo Clinic’s first strategic collaboration of this scale with a global biopharmaceutical company.

 

Merck will leverage Mayo Clinic’s multimodal data — including laboratory results, medical imaging, clinical notes and molecular data — to validate AI models and translate research findings into actionable drug discovery and development strategies.

 

"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," said Robert M. Davis, chairman and CEO, Merck.

 

“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, president and CEO, 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."

 

The alliance will initially zero in on high-need therapeutic areas where advanced analytics and multimodal data could unlock faster progress and more tailored treatments like gastroenterology — inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), dermatology — atopic dermatitis, and neurology — multiple sclerosis.

 

The collaboration builds on Merck’s broader push into AI-driven discovery, including AI foundation models and real-world data integration. For Mayo Clinic, it signals a major step in scaling its platform-based model to work directly with global pharmaceutical leaders.

 

Both organizations say the goal is clear: harness AI, high-quality data and clinical expertise to shorten development timelines, sharpen target identification and ultimately bring more effective therapies to patients worldwide.