BenchSci Extends ASCEND Agreement with Merck

BenchSci, a leading provider of AI software for biopharma research and development, renewed its two-year contract with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada.

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 to help biopharma understand disease biology at scale. At its core is the Biological Evidence Knowledge Graph (BEKG)— an 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.

“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.