In honor of March Madness, The Motley Fool's health-care team has assembled its own bracket consisting of the 16 largest pharmaceutical and biotech stocks on the market. The series gets under way with a tough matchup between two struggling giants of the pharmaceutical industry: AstraZeneca (AZN 0.13%) and Merck (MRK +0.36%). To learn the bull and bear cases for each stock -- and to see which stock will move on to the Elite Eight -- watch the following video.
Market Madness Showdown: AstraZeneca vs. Merck
By Max Macaluso and Brenton Flynn – Mar 31, 2013 at 6:30PM
NYSE: MRK
Merck
Market Cap
$219B
Today's Change
(0.36%) $0.31
Current Price
$87.49
Price as of October 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET
Who will win this round?
About the Author
Max is the Technology, Biopharma & Health Care Bureau Chief at Fool.com. Prior to joining the Fool, he completed a PhD in chemistry at the University of Cambridge and an MBA at the College des Ingenieurs.
Follow @TMFMassimo