Obesity
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.
Amgen remains confident in its obesity asset MariTide, for which it has launched a broad Phase III program.
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.
Mounjaro and Zepbound contributed more than $10 billion to the $11.98 billion in sales Lilly recorded for key products in the third quarter, despite price decreases for the GLP-1 medicines.
Pfizer called Novo’s offer “reckless and unprecedented,” in a statement issued Thursday morning.
The reprioritization initiative extends Aldeyra’s cash runway into the second half of 2027.
Viking Therapeutics CEO Brian Lian is watching the growth of interest in MASH and obesity but prepared to go it alone.
Two patients experienced grade 3 liver enzyme elevations that were deemed related to Terns’ investigational obesity pill TERN-601.
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