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Compare · AZN vs MRK

AZN vs MRK

Side-by-side comparison of AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) and Merck & Company Inc. (MRK): market cap, price performance, sector, and recent activity on the wire.

Summary

  • Both AZN and MRK operate in Biotechnology: Pharmaceutical Preparations (Health Care), so they compete in similar markets.
  • AZN is the larger of the two at $581.12B, about 2.2x MRK ($269.81B).
  • Over the past year, AZN is down 0.4% and MRK is up 31.1% - MRK leads by 31.6 points.
  • AZN has been more active in the news (14 items in the past 4 weeks vs 12 for MRK).
  • Both have 25 recent analyst ratings on file.
PerformanceAZN-0.44%MRK-3.74%
2026-02-02+0.00%2026-04-30
MetricAZNMRK
Company
AstraZeneca PLC
Merck & Company Inc.
Price
$187.45+1.19%
$109.17-1.66%
Market cap
$581.12B
$269.81B
1M return
-4.96%
-9.20%
1Y return
-0.44%
+31.12%
Industry
Biotechnology: Pharmaceutical Preparations
Biotechnology: Pharmaceutical Preparations
Exchange
NYSE
NYSE
IPO
2026
News (4w)
14
12
Recent ratings
25
25
AZN

AstraZeneca PLC

AstraZeneca PLC discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prescription medicines in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory, infection, neuroscience, and gastroenterology worldwide. The company's marketed products include Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Enhertu, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Equidacent, Zoladex, Faslodex, Iressa, Arimidex, Casodex/Cosudex, and others for oncology diseases; Onglyza, Bydureon, Lokelma, Byetta, Qtern, Symlin, and others for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; and Symbicort, Pulmicort, Fasenra, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir, Tudorza/Eklira, Bevespi, Breztri, Anifrolumab, and others for respiratory and immunology diseases. It also offers other medicines and COVID-19 products, including Synagis, Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent, Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR, Vimovo, Movantik/Moventig, Nexium, Losec/Prilosec, and COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices. It has a collaboration agreement with Daiichi Sankyo to develop and commercialize DS-1062 for the treatment of trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP2) tumor; AliveCor, Inc. to develop non-invasive potassium monitoring solutions; Massachusetts General Hospital to accelerate digital health solutions; Sanguina on smartphone application study for hemoglobin management in patients with anemia of chronic kidney disease; Alchemab to enhance prostate cancer research; and Proteros biostructures GmbH to discover and develop novel small molecules for the treatment of various types of cancer. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

MRK

Merck & Company Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health segments. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, diabetes, and women's health, as well as vaccine products. The Animal Health segment provides discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets a range of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as a suite of digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. The company has collaborations with AstraZeneca PLC; Bayer AG; Eisai Co., Ltd.; and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. It serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians and physician distributors, veterinarians, and animal producers. The company has collaboration agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting investigational treatment combinations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir in HIV; Amathus Therapeutics to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases; and Linnaeus Therapeutics, Inc. to evaluate LNS8801 in combination with KEYTRUDA for patients with advanced cancer. It also has a collaboration with Biomed X Gmbh for building on ongoing research projects in the fields of oncology (DNA damage response and RNA splicing) and autoimmunity (intestinal epithelial barrier in autoimmune diseases); and a collaboration agreement with NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. to focus primarily on the development of novel medicines for unmet patient needs in retinal and CVM diseases, including heart failure. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

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