ARAV vs MRK

Aravive Inc.

Aravive, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops treatments for life-threatening diseases. Its lead product candidate is AVB-500, a decoy protein that targets the GAS6-AXL signaling pathway, which is in Phase Ib/II clinical trial for the treatment of platinum- resistant recurrent ovarian cancer, as well as for the treatment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, HER negative breast cancer, uterine, pancreatic cancer, urothelial, and non-small-cell lung cancers. The company also develops AVB-S6, a soluble Fc-fusion protein to block the activation of the GAS6-AXL signaling pathway. It has a strategic collaboration agreement with WuXi Biologics to develop novel high-affinity bispecific antibodies targeting cancer and fibrosis; and license agreement with 3D Medicines Inc. to develop products that contain AVB-500 as the sole drug substance for the treatment of human oncological diseases in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The company was formerly known as Versartis, Inc. and changed its name to Aravive, Inc. in October 2018. Aravive, Inc. is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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.