BenchSci Extends AI Partnership with Merck for Preclinical Disease Biology Research
Key Insights
BenchSci (search) announced a renewed two-year contract with Merck (search) to continue providing its ASCEND (search) AI platform for preclinical disease biology research.
The ASCEND (search) platform represents the first neurosymbolic AI system specifically designed to help biopharma companies understand disease biology at scale through its Biological Evidence Knowledge Graph.
The partnership enables Merck (search) scientists to integrate AI more deeply into their workflows, allowing for more evidence-driven decisions in early drug discovery.
BenchSci (search), a leading provider of AI software for biopharma research and development, announced a renewed two-year contract with Merck (search) (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) to continue supporting the pharmaceutical giant's preclinical disease biology research through its ASCEND (search) AI platform.
The partnership extension underscores the growing integration of artificial intelligence in pharmaceutical research workflows, with Merck (search)'s teams using ASCEND (search) to unravel disease biology, strengthen hypotheses, and make more evidence-driven decisions in early discovery phases.
"Seeing Merck (search)'s teams use ASCEND (search) to unravel disease biology, strengthen hypotheses, and make more evidence-driven decisions underscores the real scientific value AI can deliver," said Liran Belenzon, CEO and Co-Founder of BenchSci (search). "This renewed agreement gives us the opportunity to deepen that impact and continue advancing how complex biological questions are explored in early discovery."
Revolutionary AI Platform for Disease Biology
BenchSci (search)'s ASCEND (search) represents the first neurosymbolic AI platform built specifically to help biopharma understand disease biology at scale. At its core lies the Biological Evidence Knowledge Graph (BEKG), a rigorously curated, experimentally grounded foundation that unifies diverse data sources, including peer-reviewed literature, multi-omics datasets, and clinical trial evidence.
The platform combines the BEKG with advanced foundation models to power AI copilots and co-scientists that deliver rapid, explainable insights and enable faster, more confident research decisions. ASCEND (search) also harmonizes each partner's internal data to create a secure, proprietary, and customized map of disease biology, forming a living, evolving foundation for discovery.
Addressing Drug Discovery Challenges
The renewed agreement supports Merck (search)'s efforts to integrate AI more deeply into its scientific workflows, with ongoing access to ASCEND (search) enabling scientists to more easily evaluate evidence and surface insights that inform early development decisions. This approach directly addresses one of the primary reasons drug discovery projects fail—getting the biology wrong.
BenchSci (search)'s mission centers on exponentially increasing the speed and quality of life-saving R&D to help bring new medicines to patients faster. The company applies AI to understand how disease biology works throughout the drug discovery pipeline, acting as a scalable AI assistant for preclinical organizations and increasing the productivity of the preclinical R&D pipeline across therapeutic areas.
Market Impact and Investment
The Toronto-based company has established itself as a significant player in the AI-driven pharmaceutical research space, backed by top-tier investors including Generation Investment Management (search), iNovia Capital (search), TCV (search), F-Prime (search), Gradient Ventures (search) (Google's AI fund), and Golden Ventures (search). BenchSci (search) has raised over $200 million in funding to date.
The platform's reach extends beyond Merck (search), currently accelerating science at 16 top-20 pharmaceutical companies and over 4,500 leading research centers worldwide, demonstrating the broad industry adoption of AI-powered research tools in drug discovery and development.