Merck's $3 Billion AI Gamble: Inside the Bold Bet to Crack Parkinson's

Merck KGaA is making a fresh push to rebuild its pharmaceutical firepower, and this time it is placing a multibillion-dollar bet on artificial intelligence. The company has signed a new partnership with Valo Health that could be worth more than $3 billion, handing Merck access to an AI platform trained on over 17 million patient records and biobank samples. The goal is straightforward but ambitious: identify disease patterns and potential targets for Parkinson's and related disorders at a moment when Merck could be looking to regain momentum after two pipeline setbacks and increasing competitive pressure on some older products.

For Valo, the deal adds another heavyweight name to a partnership list that already includes Novo Nordisk, reinforcing how its AI-driven approach might be gaining traction across the industry. The agreement announced Thursday bundles upfront payments, potential milestones, royalties, and R&D funding, though the companies did not break down the financials. While Valo continues to advance its own experimental programs, collaborations like this could be a way for the company to scale its platform more quickly.

This latest move also lands as CEO Belen Garijo prepares to step down in May, after pushing through a sequence of transactions aimed at strengthening Merck's pipeline. The recently acquired SpringWorks Therapeutics has already begun contributing to sales, and an August agreement with Skyhawk Therapeutics is targeting neurological conditions with high unmet need. With Mavenclad, one of Merck's key multiple sclerosis growth drivers, now facing the possibility of earlier-than-expected generic competition following a US patent blow, this new AI-enabled partnership could be an important piece of Merck's longer-term strategy to rebuild momentum in neurology.