ALIM vs MRK

Alimera Sciences Inc.

Alimera Sciences, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of prescription ophthalmic pharmaceuticals in the United States and internationally. It offers ILUVIEN, an intravitreal implant for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), which is a disease of the retina that affects individuals with diabetes and could lead to severe vision loss and blindness; and to prevent relapse in recurrent non-infectious uveitis affecting the posterior segment of the eye. The company sells its products to physician offices, pharmacies, and hospitals through direct sales and distributors. It has a collaboration agreement with EyePoint Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. for the development and sale of insert technology to deliver other corticosteroids to the back of the eye for the treatment and prevention of eye diseases in humans or to treat diabetic macular edema. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.

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.