Merck Announces Collaboration With Iktos for Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology

Darmstadt, Germany (ots/PRNewswire) -

Not intended for US, Canada and UK-based media

- Collaboration agreement enables Merck access to Iktos AI technology
across three drug discovery projects
- Generative modelling AI technology enables rapid and cost-effective
design of novel drugs
- Agreement is part of Merck's R&D strategy to advance drug discovery
with strategic technology-focused collaborations

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced a
collaboration agreement with Iktos, for the use of its generative
modelling artificial intelligence (AI) technology, in order to
facilitate the rapid and cost-effective discovery and design of
promising new compounds.

"This agreement is another illustration of how we aim to enrich
our discovery engine with strategic technology-focused
collaborations," said Belén Garijo, Member of the Executive Board and
CEO Healthcare, Merck. "Artificial intelligence is emerging as a
pillar in the biopharmaceutical R&D model, giving us exponential
opportunity to complement our existing expertise with further speed
and better precision. For patients, this could mean faster access to
novel treatment options."

Iktos' AI technology, which is based on deep generative models,
helps bring speed and efficiency to the drug discovery process, by
automatically designing virtual novel molecules that have desired
activities for treating a given disease. This tackles one of the key
challenges in drug design: rapid identification of molecules which
simultaneously satisfy multiple drug-like criteria for clinical
testing. The technology is already successfully established in other
fields, such as image processing and automatic translation, but has
only recently been applied to chemistry.

"We are thrilled that Merck is collaborating with Iktos to further
accelerate its drug discovery capabilities," commented Yann
Gaston-Mathé, President and CEO of Iktos. "In a short space of time,
our technology has successfully enabled huge progress and we are
eager to apply the enormous possibilities it holds to help Merck with
the successful design of new therapeutic options."

Merck continues to leverage machine learning and artificial
intelligence to drive transformative approaches. This follows the
announcement, in December 2018, of a year-long licencing agreement
with Cyclica Inc. for the use of its AI-augmented proteome screening
platform, Ligand Express®. Merck also recently announced that it has
been granted a U.S. Patent for a novel combination of AI and
Blockchain Technology, aimed at providing a solution for the secure
integration of physical products into the digital world.

About Iktos

Incorporated in October 2016, Iktos is a French start-up company
specialized in the development of artificial intelligence solutions
applied to chemical research, more specifically medicinal chemistry
and new drug design. Iktos is developing a proprietary and innovative
solution based on deep learning generative models, which enables,
using existing data, to design molecules that are optimized in silico
to meet all the success criteria of a small molecule discovery
project. The use of Iktos technology enables major productivity gains
in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos offers its technology both as
professional services and as a SaaS software platform, Makya(TM).

More information on: www.iktos.ai

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About Merck

Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across
healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 52,000
employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's
lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live.
From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways
to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence
of devices - the company is everywhere. In 2018, Merck generated
sales of EUR 14.8 billion in 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been
key to Merck's technological and scientific advances. This is how
Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family
remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck
holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only
exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business
sectors of Merck operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma
in life science, and EMD Performance Materials.

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