Merck and the Mayo Clinic entered into a research and development collaboration to use artificial intelligence (AI) and patient data in the discovery and development of new drugs.[1][5] The partnership combines AI and machine learning from Merck with the Mayo Clinic platform, which provides anonymized clinical, genomic and multimodal data from Mayo Clinic in the US and its international partners.[1][2] Merck will use virtual cell technology to better understand diseases, identify targets, and decide whether to continue programs.[3][4] Mayo Clinic PlatformOrchestrate gives Merck access to laboratory results, medical images, clinical notes, molecular data, registries and biorepositories.[3][5] The collaboration is the first of its kind between the Mayo Clinic and a global pharmaceutical company.[1][3] It will focus on three areas: inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis and multiple sclerosis.[1][6] The goal is to accelerate the development of precision therapies and increase the success of the programs.[2][5]