Amazon, MSD, and Accenture Launch Cloud-Based Research Platform to Accelerate Early-Stage Drug Discovery

On September 17 (local time), Amazon, Merck & Co., and Accenture announced a collaborative initiative in New York. The three parties will jointly build a cloud-based information research platform aimed at helping life sciences companies improve efficiency in the early stages of drug research and development.

This platform, jointly created by Merck & Co. and Accenture with technical support from Amazon, enables researchers and informatics professionals in the life sciences industry to rapidly aggregate, access, and analyze research data from multiple applications. Data can now be accessed through a unified set of interfaces featuring integrated workflows, reporting, and analytics capabilities. By combining a modern user interface with a secure multi-user environment, the platform standardizes user experience elements to facilitate collaboration across R&D enterprises, including with external partners.

The platform’s interfaces will be made publicly available to the industry, enabling researchers to rapidly adopt new features and thereby fostering an ecosystem that accelerates innovation. Enterprises providing digital innovation services to the life sciences sector can quickly integrate with this platform, helping life sciences companies reimagine their processes, user experiences, and data-intensive research methodologies.

Joe Miletich, Senior Vice President of Research at Merck & Co., stated, “The convergence of numerous technological advances presents unprecedented opportunities to translate new insights into the biology of human diseases into meaningful therapies. Seizing these opportunities requires the ability to rapidly identify and explore associations within datasets that are growing exponentially in both size and number. Our collaboration will create a scientific and technological tool that helps researchers expand the capabilities necessary for scientific innovation, enabling us to deliver new breakthrough therapies to the patients who need them.”

In fact, this is not the first time Merck & Co. has engaged in such cross-industry collaboration; it had previously partnered with Amazon on voice recognition technology to provide follow-up care and disease management services for patients with chronic conditions.

As cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data technologies mature, they are driving the digital transformation of the life sciences industry, with leading pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. at the forefront of this change.

As previously summarized by VCBeat, Merck & Co. has been actively pursuing “digital” innovation in recent years across internal management, drug research, clinical trials, patient services, and marketing.

Overview of MSD’s Digital Innovation

We believe that digital technologies are reshaping the pharmaceutical industry, and a wave of digital transformation in this sector is imminent. This judgment is based on three logical premises: first, technology has reached sufficient maturity to drive “qualitative change.” Whether it is artificial intelligence, big data, or mobile internet, all have undergone years of development and are now ready for deployment in specific application scenarios.

Second, the pharmaceutical industry, and indeed the broader healthcare sector, possesses an intrinsic drive for change. As the costs and risks associated with new drug development and clinical research continue to rise, the industry requires new tools to transform its established production models. Meanwhile, the application of technology in digital marketing and patient services is helping the industry address challenges related to accessibility and satisfaction, thereby fostering the emergence of a new commercial order.

Third, numerous industry leaders are already poised to enter the fray—major pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. included. When a new technology has both payers and service providers, it can rapidly gain traction.

The most important lesson from Merck’s century-long history is to “go with the flow.” This includes shifting from pharmaceutical distribution to manufacturing, and from basic chemical production to the discovery of high-tech drugs and vaccines. Technological barriers create competitive business advantages, which form the foundation of the pharmaceutical industry. In the process of digital transformation, it is clear that Merck is seizing this opportunity.