Merck, a leading science and technology company, has launched its open-source code library around Palantir Foundry on GitHub. Publishing Merck’s source code, “Foundry DevTools,” under an open-source license was completed in collaboration with Palantir. Both companies have been partnering since 2017 to build Merck’s data and analytics capabilities and contribute to the digital product portfolio of its Life Science, Healthcare and Electronics sectors. Today, data practitioners, applications and production workflows in the company’s Data & AI ecosystem utilize “Foundry DevTools” – the source code of which is now also freely accessible to all Foundry developers worldwide.
“Digitalization is key to our long-term growth strategy. This milestone exemplifies the importance of how data and a consistent library of code can drive quality, speed, and productivity at Merck and externally with developers, who through Palantir Foundry, can generate real-world value using data and analytics,” said Laura Matz, Chief Science & Technology Officer of Merck. “Open source is not just about publishing code. More importantly, it is about a mindset that fosters collaboration, innovation, and open, interchangeable technology ecosystems.”
The development of the code library started in 2019 at the Merck’s Analytics Center of Excellence (ACE), based in the Life Science business sector. In recent months, the ACE team worked jointly with Palantir to publish the code library, a first for Palantir Foundry. Today, it is available for use by all Palantir Foundry Developers worldwide. This first-ever, open-source project around Palantir Foundry, created by a customer, lowers the entry barrier to the data supply by stripping away complexity and providing a consistent set of developer tools that boost productivity and quality for data teams.
“This library represents a step change in the Developer Experience (DevX) for programmers on Foundry. It is a significant milestone – started as a customer-driven, open-source project – hopefully the first of many examples,” said Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer of Palantir Technologies.
Merck and Palantir started collaborating in 2017. For the SyntropyTM solution, both companies partnered to unleash the power of biomedical data, revolutionize cancer therapy, and accelerate research. SyntropyTM aims to provide researchers with intuitive analytics techniques to enable them to aggregate, analyze and then also share data from disparate sources. In 2021, Merck and Palantir announced a second partnership to deliver a secure collaborative data analytics platform for the semiconductor industry. The AthinaTM platform leverages AI and big data to solve critical challenges such as chip shortages, improve quality and supply chain transparency, and time to market.
