ARCT vs MRK

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc.

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., an RNA medicines company, focuses on the treatment of liver and respiratory care diseases. Its preclinical drug discovery and development programs include LUNAR-OTC development program for ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency; and LUNAR-CF program for cystic fibrosis lung disease caused by mutations in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. The company owns LUNAR and nucleic acid technologies that are covered by a patent portfolio of 209 patents and patent applications, issued in the United States and other countries. It has collaboration partnerships with Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc. to develop mRNA therapeutic candidates for certain rare disease targets; Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Takeda) to develop a nucleic acid-based therapeutic candidate for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop nucleic acid-based therapeutic candidates for the treatment of hepatitis B virus infection; CureVac AG to develop mRNA therapeutic and vaccine candidates; Singapore Economic Development Board and Duke-NUS Medical School to develop LUNAR-COV19 vaccine. Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

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.