MSD cuts $1bn AI tool deal with Google Cloud

MSD has agreed a deal with Google Cloud that will put the tech giant's AI tools in the hands of its 75,000 employees worldwide.

The strategic-level agreement, which spans several years and has a value of up to $1 billion, will see Google Cloud's agentic AI platform integrated across the board at the pharma group, including R&D, manufacturing, commercial, and corporate functions.

MSD – known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada – will house Google Cloud workers alongside its own teams as the alliance plays out. The tools at the drugmaker's disposal will include the recently launched Gemini Enterprise, the central AI engine for deploying and managing the entire agent ecosystem.

The platform includes a portfolio of specialised, pre-built agents, including the just-announced Deep Research, which autonomously plans and executes multi-step R&D tasks and allows scientists to bring together open-source web data and proprietary, in-house information in a single application. Deep Research comes in two flavours, a regular version for speed and efficiency, and a Max version for the highest quality context gathering and synthesis

MSD's announcement is a fillip for Google Cloud early on in the rollout of Gemeini Enterprise as it competes in the increasingly competitive area of providing enterprise AI for life sciences companies against rival platforms from the likes of NVIDIA, Alphabet/Isomorphic Labs, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Amazon.

"Merck's collaboration with Google Cloud represents the next phase of our AI journey, extending our longstanding use of advanced technologies into an intelligent agentic ecosystem that will work alongside our teams, as we enter one of the most significant launch periods in our company's history," said Dave Williams, the pharma group's chief information and digital officer.

"AI agents and generative tools will help our teams around the world reimagine processes at scale and bring scientific breakthroughs to patients faster," he added.

MSD is one of several commercial groups announcing that they have signed up to use the platform, such as Tata Steel, PepsiCo, and GE, at Google's Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas.

"Our partnership with Merck represents a fundamental shift in how technology supports the entire pharma value chain," said Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud's chief executive.

"By deploying an industry-first agentic ecosystem powered by Gemini Enterprise, Merck is not just optimising business processes; it is building a future where the speed of AI and the expertise of human ingenuity come together to bring drugs to patients faster and solve problems that were previously out of reach."

Google Cloud also announced a $750 million fund today for global consulting firms, systems integrators, software partners, and channel partners that can help it build new Gemini agents and other capabilities for its AI ecosystem.