At Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, we are committed to addressing patients’ unmet needs, and helping create, improve and prolong lives, as our core purpose.

Patients are at the heart of our work throughout drug development. Social media has emerged as a valuable and appropriate source of patient experience insights – i.e. the patient’s perspectives, needs and priorities in relation to the disease or its treatments.
Health authorities are encouraging sponsors to come forward with case studies on how patient experience from social media might be applied in drug development [1].

We are launching the Patient Experience Data Challenge to find solutions for effectively utilizing patient experience data mined from social media throughout drug research and development, and lifecycle management in multiple sclerosis and other auto-immune conditions. 

Applicants are invited to submit a description of what the solution looks like and what it can do.

The concept should include details on the approach, software / Web API / IT system that allows definition or design of questions, collection of data across multiple social media sites, visualization of results, automatic or active update of results over time for integration into the drug development process, include programming language, and tools. At this phase, please disclose non-confidential details only.

A committee will select the top 10 applicants who will be invited to submit, under a confidentiality agreement, a slide presentation or movie that clearly demonstrates the use of patient experience data mined from social media throughout drug research and development, and lifecycle management including a proof of concept in multiple sclerosis and/or other auto-immune conditions.

A committee will then evaluate the top 10 solutions according to the judging criteria, invite 5 teams to present their solution and award the gold and silver winners.

•  Maturity

Proof of concept of the solution within drug research and development, and lifecycle management setting achieved.

• Dynamism

The solution should allow easy update of query/results, automatically or actively.

• Ease of Use

The solution should be calibrated /designed for clinical researchers or strategists who are not trained in software programming or NLP (natural language processing).

• Timeliness 

The solution should be streamlined and be able to generate answers rapidly. Users should be able to design, run questions, get results, refine questions and get final outputs within 1 week.

• Technical infrastructure requirements

The solution should come with a description of requirements regarding technical equipment, such as computing systems and servers.

• Adaptability 

The solution should be easily adapted to different disease areas.

Anyone from around the world may participate, as an individual or in a team.

The application is closed, come back in the future to learn about new opportunities to engage.

• Join the challenge by completing the application form with the description of your concept as well as your own (single applicant) or your team’s (team application) information and accepted terms and conditions. 
• The concept should include details on the approach, software / Web API / IT system that allows definition or design of questions, collection of data across multiple social media sites, visualization of results, automatic or active update of results over time for integration into the drug development process, include programming language, and tools. At this phase, please disclose non-confidential details only.
• Send the completed application form by e-mail to open.innovation@emdgroup.com before 23:59 (CET) on April 30, 2021. 
•  A committee will select the top 10 applications who will be invited to submit, under a confidentiality agreement, a slide presentation or movie that clearly demonstrates the use of patient experience data mined from social media throughout drug research and development, and lifecycle management including a proof of concept in multiple sclerosis and/or other auto-immune conditions. 
• The scope of the solution should be multiple sclerosis and/or other auto-immune conditions.        
• Top applicants are required to submit a full description of the solution as a proof of concept before 23:59 (CET) on August 30, 2021 as well as a presentation or documentation that clearly demonstrates the utilization of their solution. 
  
• The committee will invite up to 5 teams to give an online presentation of their solution.
• The committee will award the winners, based on the above criteria, with research collaboration agreements and EUR 15,000 for the best solution (gold), as well as EUR 10,000 for second place (silver).

• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany retains the exclusive right to make any press release or any kind of public communication about the competition and the winning teams.
• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany will not attempt to commercialize any of the submitted concepts and solutions.
  
• You retain any rights that you hold with the developed tool and publishing rights you may have. 
  
• Confidential details on project content will not be revealed.
  

[1] For a definition of patient experience data, you may refer to guidance published by US FDA, CDER and CBER in Jun 2020 on Patient-Focused Drug Development "Collecting Comprehensive and Representative Input", accessed in February 2021: https://www.fda.gov/media/139088/download