![\"Lab](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/RD_Locations_Hero_600x400-1746455841224.webp\")
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Lab image courtesy of Merck & Co.<\/p>\n
Drugmaker Merck & Co. is committing up to $1 billion over the next decade-plus to make Google Cloud its primary AI anchor, the companies announced Wednesday at Google\u2019s Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas. The deal covers AI infrastructure, engineers, and licensing of Google\u2019s Gemini Enterprise platform, with Google Cloud staff embedded alongside Merck teams.<\/p>\n
The Google agreement<\/a>, which the firms expect to last a decade or more, caps a flurry of early-2026 dealmaking for Merck. In just the first few months of the year, Merck has aligned with Guardant Health, Illumina\u2019s Billion Cell Atlas, the Mayo Clinic and Tempus. That builds on top of 2025 work with Variational AI and Turbine and a KERMT small-molecule model co-developed with Nvidia.<\/p>\n Merck\u2019s AI stack appears to be among the most complex in top-10 pharma. The Google Cloud pact could offer some degree of synthesis as it will span its discovery research, \u200bregulatory processes, manufacturing and commercial operations, as Reuters<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n Merck\u2019s burgeoning digital transformation play comes as Keytruda, Merck\u2019s PD-1 blockbuster, is facing a loss of exclusivity around 2028<\/a>. For context, Keytruda did $31.68B in FY2025 per Merck\u2019s 10-K, up from $29.48B in FY2024. That\u2019s a roughly 7.5% YoY growth rate on a drug that drives close to half of Merck\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n Dave Williams, Merck\u2019s chief information and digital officer, alluded to the pressure in describing the Google Cloud deal, saying the company is entering \u201cone of the most significant launch periods in our company\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n Merck\u2019s Google push extends an AI buildout that has been underway for several years. In June 2025<\/a>, the company said an internal generative AI platform had cut the time needed to produce first drafts of clinical study reports from two to three weeks to three to four days. Merck also said that its AI push reduced average drafting effort from 180 hours to 80 hours and cut errors by 50%<\/a>. Beyond documentation, Merck has also used AI in manufacturing through its HawkAVI platform on AWS<\/a>, which the company says reduced false reject rates by 50%<\/a>, and in discovery through models such as KERMT<\/a>, a small-molecule model Merck developed with Nvidia and made available through BioNeMo and Clara Open Models<\/a>.<\/p>\n Initiative \/ Partner An overview of Merck & Co.\u2019s internal AI stack<\/p>\n GPTeal KERMT (w\/ Nvidia) TEDDY (w\/ BCG X) Merck\u2019s enterprise infrastructure<\/p>\n Google Cloud AWS \/ Accenture Azure \/ Microsoft Core strategic AI partners<\/p>\n Open Targets Consortium Owkin BCG Variational AI Turbine Illumina Billion Cell Atlas Guardant Health Mayo Clinic Tempus Quotient Therapeutics Infinimmune Other discovery and design partners<\/p>\n BigHat Biosciences Absci
\nDate
\nOverview
\nSource<\/p>\n
\nActive (Jun 2025 update)
\nInternal GenAI platform (>50k users). Reduces clinical study report drafting time by over 70% and errors by 50%.
\nBusiness Insider<\/a><\/p>\n
\nActive
\nOpen-source small-molecule model trained on >11M molecules; available via Nvidia BioNeMo\/Clara.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMar 2025
\nFamily of foundation models for single-cell biology built with BCG X AI Science Institute.
\nBCG Global<\/a><\/p>\n
\nApr 2026
\nUp to $1B partnership deploying Gemini Enterprise and dedicated engineers across corporate\/R&D functions.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSince 2021
\nCloud migration and manufacturing modernization. HawkAVI platform reduced false reject rates by ~50%.
\nAccenture<\/a><\/p>\n
\n2022
\nEcosystem support lane; provided cloud computing backbone for startups via the Merck Digital Sciences Studio.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nApr 2024
\nConsortium participation supporting identification, prioritization, and validation of drug targets.
\nOpen Targets<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDec 2023
\nAI-powered digital pathology diagnostics (EU market), initially focusing on MSI-H pre-screening.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMay 2024
\nGenAI collaboration to mine omics data for novel drug targets in chronic\/degenerative diseases.
\nBCG Global<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSep 2025
\nEnki-based GenAI collaboration targeting two designated small-molecule targets.
\nVariational AI<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAug 2025
\nAI-driven simulated cell and tumor models designed for hard-to-treat cancers.
\nTurbine AI<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJan 2026
\nFounding participant in a mass perturbation-data effort to fuel AI-model training and target validation.
\nIllumina<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJan 2026
\nMulti-year companion diagnostics and commercialization agreement tied to Merck oncology.
\nGuardant<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFeb 2026
\nCombining Merck\u2019s AI\/ML capabilities with Mayo\u2019s clinical, imaging, and genomic datasets for drug discovery.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMar 2026
\nExpanded multi-year AI-driven precision medicine and biomarker discovery collaboration.
\nTempus AI<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMar 2026
\nSomatic-genomics platform deal focusing on target discovery for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
\nQuotient Tx<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMar 2026
\nMulti-target human antibody discovery collaboration.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNov 2022
\nML-guided antibody discovery spanning up to three programs.
\nBigHat Bio<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJan 2022
\nAI-powered drug creation platform specifically applied to proteins and enzymes.
\nMerck.com<\/a><\/p>\n