BLTE vs MRK

Belite Bio Inc

Belite Bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical drug development company, engages in the research and development of novel therapeutics targeting atrophic age-related macular degeneration and autosomal recessive stargardt diseases. Its lead product candidate is LBS-008, an oral once-a-day treatment that can reduce and maintain the delivery of vitamin A to the eye to reduce the accumulation of toxic vitamin A by-products in ocular tissue that is in phase 3 clinical trial. The company is also developing LBS-009, an anti-retinol binding protein 4 oral therapy targeting liver disease, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and type 2 diabetes, which is in the preclinical development phase. Belite Bio, Inc was founded in 2016 and is based in San Diego, California. Belite Bio, Inc operates as a subsidiary of Lin Bioscience International Ltd.

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.