Merck Selects Perceiv AI for Inaugural Digital Sciences Studio Cohort

Perceiv AI announced that the company has been selected by Merck for the inaugural Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDSS) cohort, along with eight other early-stage biomedical startups from a pool of 152 applicants. The program started in November to fuel innovative digital technologies for drug discovery and development.

“Being selected for the Merck MDSS program is a major accomplishment for Perceiv AI and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. This partnership is a huge step forward for us and we are grateful for this opportunity,” said CEO and co-founder Dr. Christian Dansereau. “We are excited to work alongside such a renowned and respected company in the healthcare and life sciences industry and to use our cutting-edge AI technology to make a real impact in the field to advance pharma R&D innovation for clinical development, patient identification, clinical trial optimization, and trial de-risking.”

MDSS is a collaboration between Merck and the New Jersey Innovation Institute, with investments from the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, and McKesson Ventures. The accelerator provides direct investment from Merck, access to powerful Azure Cloud computing, and technology support provided by Microsoft for Startups. Additionally, participating companies are provided opportunities to collaborate with discovery and clinical scientists at Merck for pilots, where appropriate.

Perceiv AI intends to expand upon its proprietary multimodal prognostic platform ForesightTM through the program. The ForesightTM platform, which integrates longitudinal clinical data with imaging and genetics to forecast disease progression, supports the development of prognostic biomarkers for neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, for clinical trials and clinical use.

Perceiv AI joins Andson Biotech, Deep Forest Sciences, Gesund.ai, Magna Labs, IndyGeneUS AI, SciMar ONE, Stem Pharm, and Pepper Bio in the 10-month accelerator program. The program will begin with the company’s exploration of where its technology can augment Merck’s existing focus areas with the goal of transitioning into a pilot project with Merck.

This announcement comes on the heels of Perceiv AI’s closing of its financial round at the end of last year. Along with strategic partners and investors like the one in this program, Perceiv AI will be able to further develop its ForesightTM platform.