BenchSci Extends ASCEND Agreement with Merck to Support Preclinical Disease Biology Research

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BenchSci, a leading provider of AI software for biopharma research and development, today announced a renewed two-year contract with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada.

“Seeing Merck’s teams use ASCEND to unravel disease biology, strengthen hypotheses, and make more evidence-driven decisions underscores the real scientific value AI can deliver. This renewed agreement gives us the opportunity to deepen that impact and continue advancing how complex biological questions are explored in early discovery,” said Liran Belenzon, CEO and Co-Founder, BenchSci.

The renewed agreement supports Merck’s efforts to integrate AI more deeply into its scientific workflows. With ongoing access to ASCEND, scientists can more easily evaluate evidence and surface insights that inform early development decisions.

BenchSci’s ASCEND is the first neurosymbolic AI platform built specifically to help biopharma understand disease biology at scale. At its core is the Biological Evidence Knowledge Graph (BEKG)— a rigorously curated, experimentally grounded foundation that unifies diverse data sources, including peer-reviewed literature, multi-omics datasets, and clinical trial evidence.

By combining the BEKG with advanced foundation models, ASCEND powers AI copilots and co-scientists that deliver rapid, explainable insights and enable faster, more confident research decisions. ASCEND also harmonizes each partner’s internal data to create a secure, proprietary, and customized map of disease biology, forming a living, evolving foundation for discovery.

About BenchSci
BenchSci is a world leader in AI software for biopharma research and development on a mission to exponentially increase the speed and quality of life-saving R&D to help bring new medicines to patients faster. We apply AI to understand how disease biology works throughout the drug discovery pipeline to solve the number one reason drug discovery projects fail—getting the biology wrong. Our platform, ASCEND, acts as a scalable AI assistant for preclinical organizations, increasing the productivity of the preclinical R&D pipeline across therapeutic areas. Backed by top-tier investors, including Generation Investment Management, iNovia Capital, TCV, F-Prime, Gradient Ventures (Google’s AI fund), and Golden Ventures, BenchSci has raised over $200 million. Our platform accelerates science at 16 top-20 pharmaceutical companies and over 4,500 leading research centers worldwide. For more information about BenchSci, visit www.benchsci.com.