Merck & Co., Inc

Commercial

OFHS250186

We will study genetic and health data from the large and diverse group of people in Our Future Health (OFH). Our goal is to find genes linked to diseases that could point to new and better treatments for many diseases. By combining OFH data with other biological data and scientific findings, we can see which treatments are most likely to be safe and work well. We will also look at which groups of people, for example people at different ages, may benefit the most from new medicines or face higher risks of side effects. In the end, this study aims to speed up the development of better medicines, avoid costly failures in developing new medicines, and support better public health by making sure patients can receive the medicines that are most effective for their conditions and new treatments are safe and effective for the many different communities represented in OFH. Developing new medicines is often a slow, uncertain, and expensive process. Many potential treatments fail after many years of development because they don’t help much over current treatments, cause side effects, or do not work well across different groups of people. Merck is dedicated to developing new medicines for cancers (such as lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, head and neck cancer, melanoma), cardiovascular diseases (such as hypertension, heart failure), metabolic disorders (such as diabetes, obesity, hypercholesterolemia), immunological disorders (such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis), and neurodegenerative diseases (such as age-related macular degeneration, dementia). The use of genetic and health data can help avoid these failures by providing valuable information to help design safe and effective treatments, which are more likely to go through the development process and reach the patients faster. Our Future Health (OFH) is a powerful resource for developing new medicines. The diversity represented in OFH will allow us to study many different patient populations and support fairness in developing new medicines.

By combining genetic data with detailed health records from the large, diverse groups in Our Future Health (OFH), our study aims to better understand how genes influence how diseases begin and change over time, and how these patterns vary between individuals. We will also examine how these patterns differ between people, which may help develop safer and more effective treatments for many diseases. For example, in lung cancer, genetic information can help identify patients whose tumors are driven by specific genetic mutations, allowing doctors to select targeted treatments that are more likely to work for those patients. In addition, this study will also lead to new treatments for patients and diseases which currently have lack effective treatment options, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Because OFH includes participants from many backgrounds, our findings will help to develop treatments that work well for different communities across the population. Therefore, the results from our study can help reduce gaps in health outcomes and guide fair access to effective health care. Over time, the insights generated from OFH will inform the design of better medicines, leading to treatments that are both more effective and have fewer side effects.

Public Health Research

30/03/2026

26/03/2026

TRE