Mergers & acquisitions
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk seem to want Metsera bad. Analysts are wondering, though: Is the obesity biotech really worth this much effort?
Investors got to hear Novo Nordisk’s side of the Metsera bidding war drama for the first time on Wednesday, as the company reported third-quarter earnings. A rough quarter underscored the stakes for the Danish pharma.
Pfizer and Novo Nordisk continue to fight for ownership of obesity startup Metsera; CDER Director George Tidmarsh leaves his position amid an ongoing probe into his “personal conduct”; FDA reverses course on approval requirements for uniQure’s Huntington’s gene therapy; Sarepta’s exon-skipping Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs fail confirmatory study.
Due to the litigation Pfizer filed Friday and Monday against Metsera, Novo Nordisk and the biotech’s lead shareholder, CEO Albert Bourla was limited in what he could say. But he said Pfizer was the best fit for Metsera.
Both companies have submitted revised bids, with Novo’s coming in $1.9 billion higher than Pfizer’s.
Pfizer has filed two separate lawsuits in an effort to stop Novo Nordisk’s unsolicited bid to acquire obesity biotech Metsera.
Novo Nordisk, under new CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, has a new attitude. It’s making Pfizer livid.
Gilead is actively looking for late-stage and de-risked assets for potential deals across various therapeutic spaces, including liver disease, cancer and immunology.
Pfizer called Novo’s offer “reckless and unprecedented,” in a statement issued Thursday morning.
As third-quarter earnings continue to roll out, Novartis makes headlines with the second biggest acquisition of the year; Novartis’ CEO also downplayed the impact of Big Pharma pricing deals with the Trump administration; Regeneron continued the trend of dropping cell therapy assets; BioSpace takes a look at how the FDA is functioning mid-shutdown.
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