{"id":61906,"date":"2025-09-23T13:04:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/variational-ai-enters-collaboration-with-merck-to-apply-generative-ai-to-drug-discovery\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T13:04:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:04:42","slug":"variational-ai-enters-collaboration-with-merck-to-apply-generative-ai-to-drug-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/variational-ai-enters-collaboration-with-merck-to-apply-generative-ai-to-drug-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Variational AI Enters Collaboration with Merck to Apply Generative AI to Drug Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nCollaboration aims to discover and develop novel small molecule therapeutics against two targets designated by Merck<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a>
<\/a><\/p>\n

VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AIDD<\/a>—Variational AI, Inc., a generative AI drug discovery company, today announced a collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to apply Variational AI\u2019s Enki\u2122 platform to design and optimize novel small molecule candidates against two undisclosed targets.<\/i><\/p>\n

\nUnder the agreement, Variational AI will use a fine-tuned version of its Enki\u2122 platform trained on Merck\u2019s proprietary data to generate and optimize small molecule candidates against therapeutic targets designated by Merck. Merck will have the exclusive right to develop and commercialize compounds arising from the collaboration. Variational AI will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive milestones with a total potential deal value of up to USD$349 million.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are excited to apply our proprietary machine learning algorithms to Merck\u2019s extensive and valuable datasets to create unique, fine-tuned generative models of unprecedented power and accuracy,\u201d said Handol Kim, CEO of Variational AI. \u201cThis is a compelling framework that has the potential to significantly accelerate and redefine the unit economics of drug discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAt Merck, we are working to harness the potential of AI to improve efficiency, speed, and quality of candidates earlier in the discovery continuum,\u201d said Robert M. Garbaccio, Ph.D., Vice President and Head of Discovery Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories. \u201cWe look forward to working with Variational AI to apply their Enki\u2122 platform to challenging therapeutic targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nVariational AI\u2019s Enki\u2122 platform is based on a foundation model trained on Variational AI\u2019s internal data, curated version of the totality of all publicly-available data, and proprietary generative models to create and optimize small molecules leads based on partner target product profiles.<\/p>\n

\nAbout Variational AI<\/b><\/p>\n

\nVariational AI is a venture-backed generative AI drug discovery company based in Vancouver, Canada. Founded by machine learning researchers from MIT, Caltech, Google Research, Microsoft Research, and D-Wave Quantum, its proprietary Enki\u2122 platform uses state-of-the-art generative AI models to design novel, optimized small molecules with improved probability of success, thereby accelerating the discovery and development of transformative therapeutics. For more information, please visit www.variational.ai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contacts<\/b> <\/p>\n

\nMedia Contacts:<\/b>
Variational AI
\n
Handol Kim, CEO
\n
handol@variational.ai<\/a>
604-761-7199<\/p>\n

\nValentin Beuchillot, Marketing Manager
\n
valentin@variational.ai<\/a>
236-818-8624<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collaboration aims to discover and develop novel small molecule therapeutics against two targets designated by Merck VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AIDD—Variational AI, Inc., a generative AI drug discovery company, today announced a collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to apply Variational AI\u2019s Enki\u2122 platform to design and optimize novel … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-business","4":"post-61906","6":"format-standard","7":"category-industry"},"yoast_head":"\nVariational AI Enters Collaboration with Merck to Apply Generative AI to Drug Discovery - Pharma Trend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/variational-ai-enters-collaboration-with-merck-to-apply-generative-ai-to-drug-discovery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Variational AI Enters Collaboration with Merck to Apply Generative AI to Drug Discovery - Pharma Trend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Collaboration aims to discover and develop novel small molecule therapeutics against two targets designated by Merck VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AIDD—Variational AI, Inc., a generative AI drug discovery company, today announced a collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to apply Variational AI\u2019s Enki\u2122 platform to design and optimize novel ... 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