Tax-loss harvesting alternatives for MRK

Among the 30 Pharmaceuticals peers screened, GSK (GSK plc) has tracked MRK most closely over the past year, with a return correlation of 0.49. The strongest fund stand-in is PPH (VanEck Pharma ETF) at 0.68 over the past year. Correlations are computed from daily closing-price returns aligned by trading day.

Run this search live in the Screener →

STOCKS

Single-name peers

Ticker	Name	Sub-industry	1Y	3Y	5Y	10Y
GSK	GSK plc	Pharmaceuticals	0.49	0.44	0.41	0.47
AZN	AstraZeneca	Pharmaceuticals	0.49	0.48	0.44	0.41
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals	0.48	0.42	0.44	0.50
BMY	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Pharmaceuticals	0.45	0.40	0.43	0.43
PFE	Pfizer Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.44	0.43	0.37	0.47
ABBV	AbbVie Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.41	0.43	0.41	0.44
LLY	Eli Lilly	Pharmaceuticals	0.39	0.36	0.39	0.44
SNY	Sanofi S.A.	Pharmaceuticals	0.35	0.36	0.34	0.39
INVA	Innoviva, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.33	0.23	0.22	0.27
ALKS	Alkermes plc	Pharmaceuticals	0.27	0.25	0.23	0.24
VTRS	Viatris	Pharmaceuticals	0.26	0.29	0.26	0.29
AMRX	Amneal Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.26	0.23	0.16	0.20
ZTS	Zoetis Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.25	0.29	0.27	0.40
COLL	Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.23	0.19	0.16	0.18
ELAN	Elanco	Pharmaceuticals	0.23	0.19	0.15	0.23
ACAD	Acadia Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.22	0.15	0.11	0.13
PAHC	Phibro Animal Health	Pharmaceuticals	0.22	0.16	0.17	0.23
JAZZ	Jazz Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.22	0.29	0.29	0.32
PTCT	PTC Therapeutics, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.21	0.15	0.15	0.15
PRGO	Perrigo	Pharmaceuticals	0.20	0.21	0.21	0.25
PBH	Prestige Consumer Healthcare	Pharmaceuticals	0.20	0.17	0.19	0.26
AMPH	Amphstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.17	0.19	0.20	0.26
LQDA	Liquidia Corporation	Pharmaceuticals	0.16	0.09	0.06	0.08
PCRX	Pacira BioSciences, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.16	0.07	0.08	0.16
ANIP	ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.16	0.09	0.10	0.20
SUPN	Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.16	0.09	0.11	0.17
INDV	Indivior	Pharmaceuticals	0.14	0.07	0.03	0.03
CORT	Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated	Pharmaceuticals	0.13	0.09	0.10	0.14
NVO	Novo Nordisk	Pharmaceuticals	0.10	0.21	0.23	0.29
OGN	Organon & Co.	Pharmaceuticals	0.01	0.16	0.18	—

ETFS

Fund stand-ins

An ETF is generally not 'substantially identical' to a single stock, which is why funds are the standard wash-sale-aware replacement.

Ticker	Name	Focus	Match	1Y	3Y	5Y	10Y
PPH	VanEck Pharma ETF	Pharmaceuticals	INDUSTRY	0.68	0.66	0.63	0.65
IYH	iShares US Healthcare ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.65	0.61	0.57	0.63
XLV	Health Care Select Sector SPDR	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.65	0.61	0.58	0.64
FHLC	Fidelity MSCI Health Care ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.64	0.60	0.55	0.62
VHT	Vanguard Health Care ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.64	0.60	0.55	0.62
IHE	iShares US Pharmaceuticals ETF	Pharmaceuticals	INDUSTRY	0.62	0.59	0.57	0.63
IBB	iShares Biotechnology ETF	Biotechnology	INDUSTRY	0.49	0.47	0.39	0.44
XPH	SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals (Equal Wt)	INDUSTRY	0.39	0.42	0.39	0.47
XBI	SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	Biotechnology (Equal Wt)	INDUSTRY	0.36	0.34	0.26	0.32
IHI	iShares Medical Devices ETF	Medical Devices	SUB-IND	0.35	0.31	0.29	0.43
XHE	SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment	Medical Devices (Equal Wt)	SUB-IND	0.33	0.29	0.23	0.34
IHF	iShares Health Care Providers	Health Care Providers	INDUSTRY	0.21	0.22	0.28	0.40

NEXT STEPS

Harvesting a loss in MRK?

Estimate what the harvest could save →Check the eight wash-sale traps →Document the trade with a Tax Memo →

Replacement research for MRK's peers

GSK AZN JNJ BMY PFE ABBV LLY SNY INVA ALKS VTRS AMRX ZTS COLL ELAN ACAD PAHC JAZZ PTCT PRGO PBH AMPH LQDA PCRX ANIP SUPN INDV CORT NVO OGN

Browse all tickers →

Method: Pearson correlation of daily closing-price returns, Yahoo Finance data, series aligned by trading day, refreshed weekly. A cell is blank when overlapping history covers less than 60% of its window. Correlation is descriptive, not predictive. Wash-sale treatment depends on facts and circumstances — confirm with a tax professional. Not investment advice.