Story perspectives
Merck Partners with Variational AI for $349M Drug Discovery
9/24/2025
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Story summary
- Merck and Variational AI announce a collaboration in AI-driven drug discovery, potentially worth $349 million USD.
- Variational AI will use Enki, trained on Merck data, to generate molecular candidates for therapeutic targets.
- Merck retains exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any resulting compounds.
- Handol Kim, Variational AI CEO, says the deal boosts Canada's biotech competitiveness after January 2024 collaboration.
