Pfizer eyes $7.3bn takeover of weight-loss drug developer Metsera

Pfizer is closing in on a potential $7.3bn (€6.22bn) takeover of weight-loss drug developer Metsera. Pfizer employs more than 4,000 people in Ireland Picture: Dan Linehan

Pfizer is closing in on a potential $7.3bn (€6.22bn) takeover of weight-loss drug developer Metsera, the Financial Times has reported, citing unidentified sources.

The US pharma firm will acquire New York City-based Metsera for $47.50 per share in cash, with an additional $22.50 per share contingent on the achievement of certain performance milestones, the newspaper said, adding that the announcement could come as early as Monday, unless deal talks fall through.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. Pfizer employs more than 4,000 people in Ireland, at four sites. 

Talks to acquire Metsera come just months after the biotech firm's blockbuster Nasdaq debut, underscoring surging investor appetite for companies developing next-generation weight-loss therapies.

The $47.50-per-share bid marks a roughly 42.5% premium over Metsera's Friday closing price of $33.32, which pegged its market value at about $3.5bn (€2.98bn), according to LSEG data.

The deal marks Pfizer's latest bid to secure a foothold in the lucrative anti-obesity drug market, following setbacks in its own development efforts.

The company had been working on an experimental weight-loss pill, danuglipron, but abandoned the project in April after a mid-stage trial revealed poor tolerability. A once-daily extended-release version was later tested in roughly 1,400 patients, but persistent liver safety concerns further undermined the company’s ambitions.

Metsera, founded in 2022 by venture capital firm ARCH Venture and investment company Population Health Partners, is developing injectable and oral drugs to treat obesity, based on the GLP-1 mechanism and other biological targets.

Its lead candidate, MET-097i, an injectable, showed an average weight loss of 11.3% in patients during a mid-stage trial, the company said earlier this year.

Demand for weight-loss drugs is surging, with rivals Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk  intensifying their battle for market dominance.

Some experts forecast that the global weight-loss drug market could be valued at $150bn (€127bn) by the early 2030s.

Reuters