The logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss therapies Ozempic and Wegovy is seen exterior theri constructing as the corporate presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Pictures
Metsera on Tuesday mentioned Novo Nordisk‘s new bid for the weight problems biotech is “superior” to a revised supply from Pfizer, escalating a heated tussle over the startup between the 2 pharmaceutical giants.
Novo Nordisk’s new proposal values Metsera at as much as $86.20 per share, for a complete of round $10 billion. In a launch, Metsera mentioned that represents a roughly 159% premium to its closing worth as of Sept. 19, the final buying and selling day earlier than Pfizer introduced its proposed acquisition of the corporate.
In the meantime, Pfizer’s new proposal values Metsera at as much as $70 per share, for a complete of roughly $8.1 billion.
Beneath the phrases of the unique settlement for Pfizer to accumulate Metsera, the drugmaker has two enterprise days to barter changes to the proposal. If Metsera’s board believes that Novo Nordisk’s proposal remains to be higher than Pfizer’s after that window, Metsera could be entitled to finish the present merger settlement, in line with the discharge.
“We imagine that Novo Nordisk’s supply is illusory, and can’t represent a superior proposal below the phrases of our merger settlement with Metsera as a result of it violates antitrust regulation and there’s a excessive threat it should by no means be consummated,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla mentioned throughout the firm’s third-quarter earnings name on Tuesday.
In a press release Tuesday, Novo Nordisk confirmed its new bid and mentioned it might maximize the potential of Metsera’s complementary drug portfolio. Novo Nordisk reiterated that the proposal complies with all relevant legal guidelines and “is in the very best curiosity of sufferers who will profit from our dedication to innovation, in addition to Metsera’s shareholders.”
The brand new bids comes someday after Pfizer filed its second lawsuit towards Novo Nordisk and Metsera, alleging that the Danish drugmaker’s try and outbid Pfizer to accumulate the biotech firm is anticompetitive.
The conflict displays the shifting panorama for blockbuster weight reduction and diabetes medicine, with veteran Novo Nordisk now trailing rival Eli Lilly as different corporations like Pfizer race to interrupt in.
Metsera, based in 2022, brings a pipeline of each oral and injectable therapies with completely different targets, together with a drug focusing on GLP-1 and one other focusing on one other intestine hormone referred to as amylin. Each are being studied as potential once-monthly therapies, which might imply they’re taken much less regularly than the weekly injections available on the market.
For Pfizer, Metsera’s pipeline may very well be the corporate’s golden ticket to enter the area after struggling to deliver its personal weight problems merchandise to market over the previous few years. Novo Nordisk helped set up the market, however is dropping market share to Eli Lilly and cheaper copycats and struggling to impress buyers with its drug pipeline.
Pfizer in September mentioned that it will purchase Metsera for $4.9 billion, or as much as $7.3 billion with future funds.
However Novo Nordisk launched a takeover bid Thursday valuing the biotech at round $6 billion, or as much as $9 billion, triggering a deadline of 4 enterprise days for Pfizer to renegotiate its supply.
