Pfizer sets sights on new obesity drug market in multibillion-dollar acquisition

A little more than five months after Pfizer discontinued development of its weight-loss drug known as danuglipron, the drugmaker announced its plan on Monday to acquire a biopharmaceutical company for close to $5 billion.

Pfizer published a press release on Monday confirming the unanimous agreement to acquire Metsera, a “clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company accelerating the next generation of medicines for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.”

‘Obesity is a large and growing space with over 200 health conditions associated with it.’

According to the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will acquire all outstanding shares of Metsera common stock for $47.50 per share in cash at closing, representing an enterprise value of approximately $4.9 billion.

While Pfizer reportedly does not have any obesity drugs on the market, Metsera has “a portfolio of differentiated oral and injectable incretin, non-incretin, and combination therapy candidates with potential best-in-class efficacy and safety profiles,” per the press release.

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Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The portfolio includes drug trials at different stages of development, including “two oral GLP-1 RA candidates expected to begin clinical trials imminently.”

“Obesity is a large and growing space with over 200 health conditions associated with it. The proposed acquisition of Metsera aligns with our focus on directing our investments to the most impactful opportunities and propels Pfizer into this key therapeutic area,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in the press statement.

“Since our founding in 2022, Metsera has worked tirelessly to reduce the physical, emotional, and economic burdens of obesity with a portfolio of next-generation nutrient-stimulated hormone therapeutic candidates. Our team has invented and developed multiple injectable and oral candidate medicines and a category-leading peptide engineering platform, which together promise class-leading performance in a major sector of population health,” said Whit Bernard, co-founder and CEO of Metsera.

In the press release, neither company mentioned or acknowledged well-known weight-loss techniques like calorie-deficit dieting and consistent exercise as part of a healthy regimen. Blaze News did not receive a response from Pfizer or Metsera when asked to clarify their stance on diet and exercise.

Weight-loss drug production, as it turns out, is a very lucrative business to be in. A Nasdaq article from the beginning of 2024 laid out the pathway for Danish company Novo Nordisk, the producer of flagship obesity drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, to potentially reach a valuation of $1 trillion by 2030. It’s possible that the explosion of interest in and availability of weight-loss drugs has pushed tried-and-true methods to the side.

“With a number like that, of course this drug is the answer! It has to be the answer,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy said last year on X, referring to the $1 trillion speculation about Novo Nordisk’s obesity drugs. “With a number like that, of course we don’t talk about root causes; and about the need for better food and saner farming.”

Pfizer and Metsera expect the transaction to be finalized by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.

Blaze News contacted the Health and Human Services press office about the pending acquisition but did not receive a response.

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