DBTX vs MRK

Decibel Therapeutics Inc.

Decibel Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in discovering and developing transformative treatments for hearing and balance disorders. Its product candidates and programs focuses on three areas, such as Gene Therapies for Congenital, Monogenic Hearing Loss designed to restore functional cells within the cochlea to address hearing disorders caused by single gene mutations; Gene Therapies for Hair Cell Regeneration designed to replace lost hair cells within the inner ear to address acquired hearing loss and balance disorders; and Otoprotection Therapeutic in clinical development to prevent hearing loss in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with cisplatin. The company's lead gene therapy product candidate is DB-OTO to provide hearing to individuals born with profound hearing loss due to mutation of the otoferlin gene. It is also developing DB-ATO, a gene therapy program designed to restore balance in patients with bilateral vestibulopathy by regenerating lost hair cells within the inner ear; and DB-020 for the prevention of cisplatin-induced hearing loss, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial. Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. has a strategic collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop gene therapies for monogenic forms of congenital hearing loss. The company was formerly known as Hearing Inc. and changed its name to Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. in April 2014. Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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.