(414a) Data-Rich Experimentation at Merck. a Retrospective on a 6year Journey.

Since its inception in early 2014, the Process Development Intensification Laboratory (iLab) within Small Molecule Process Research & Development at Merck has been focused on the development of tools and techniques to enable acquisition of deeper, more fundamental process understanding in a resource sparing manner. This is predominantly centered around the concept of data intensification, specifically, around enabling more efficient data capture, data reduction and data analysis. Since 2014, we have grown to call these activities Data-Rich Experimentation, or DRE, and these investments have spawned a significantly broader strategic initiative, across large and small molecule Process R&D, which we eloquently call “the DRE initiative”.

In this submission, we will look back on the development, demonstration, and perhaps more importantly, the deployment of novel tools designed to increase the information density of the experiments we conduct, and the efficiency of the chemists and engineers who conduct them. We will highlight the installation of novel, enabling technologies such as process modeling, bench-top automation, medium and high-throughput experimentation, process analytical technologies and statistically designed experimentation. Furthermore, this submission will emphasize the importance, as well as demonstrate the utility, of application of such tools across scales typically encountered in a process R&D setting. We will also provide perspective on future directions the team is moving.