Accenture and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), will launch a cloud-based informatics research platform designed to help organizations in the life sciences industry improve productivity, efficiency and innovation in the early stages of drug development.

The new research platform, being developed by Merck and Accenture, will enable an ecosystem that accelerates innovation by creating open, industry-standard application programming interfaces for core research functions, allowing researchers to rapidly adopt new capabilities. Scientific application providers, content providers and technology innovators will benefit from lower barriers to entry as they bring new capabilities to market, helping life sciences companies re-imagine processes, user experiences, and approaches to data-intensive research.

The platform will allow life sciences researchers and informatics professionals to quickly aggregate, access and analyze research data from multiple applications. Data will now be accessible through a single set of interfaces, with integrated workflow, reporting and analytics capabilities. Incorporating a modern user interface and a secure, multi-tenant environment, the platform will unify user experience elements and enable easier collaboration across the research and development (R&D) enterprise, including with external partners.

“Pharmaceutical and biotech R&D is evolving rapidly, with advances in biological sciences generating an increase in the volume and diversity of research data,” said Brad Michel, managing director of Accenture Scientific Informatics Services. “Understanding the industry’s need to drive faster, more efficient and more innovative scientific research, we are pleased to collaborate with Merck and AWS to launch the platform and associated ecosystem to help our clients accelerate the discovery of new, targeted treatments for patients.”

Merck is collaborating with Accenture on this launch and will be the first pharmaceutical company to use the platform. Joe Miletich, senior vice president of research at Merck said, “The convergence of numerous scientific and technological advances provides unprecedented opportunities to translate novel insights into human disease biology into meaningful therapies. Capitalizing on these opportunities requires an ability to rapidly find and explore associations across data sets that are increasing dramatically in size and number. Our collaboration will create a scientific technology marketplace providing the capabilities our researchers need to extend our tradition of scientific innovation, enabling our mission of bringing new breakthrough therapies to the patients who need them.”

The platform is built on AWS, leveraging its secure cloud services to help increase operational efficiency, strengthen business intelligence, and quickly develop innovative products and services. “Pharmaceutical companies are seeking ways to adopt a cloud-first strategy to enhance and advance their R&D drug discovery practices, and we’re thrilled to be at the leading edge of these efforts as we work with Accenture to launch a new industry platform,” said Mike Clayville, vice president, Worldwide Commercial Sales and Business Development, Amazon Web Services, Inc. 

The platform is available to pharmaceutical, biotech and scientific research organizations that are seeking unique approaches to solve research informatics challenges.