The logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy is seen outside theri building as the company presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Images
Metsera on Tuesday said Novo Nordisk‘s new bid for the obesity biotech is “superior” to a revised offer from Pfizer, escalating a heated tussle over the startup between the two pharmaceutical giants.
Novo Nordisk’s new proposal values Metsera at up to $86.20 per share, for a total of around $10 billion. In a release, Metsera said that represents a roughly 159% premium to its closing price as of Sept. 19, the last trading day before Pfizer announced its proposed acquisition of the company.
Meanwhile, Pfizer’s new proposal values Metsera at up to $70 per share, for a total of roughly $8.1 billion.
Under the terms of the original agreement for Pfizer to acquire Metsera, the drugmaker has two business days to negotiate adjustments to the proposal. If Metsera’s board believes that Novo Nordisk’s proposal is still better than Pfizer’s after that window, Metsera would be entitled to end the existing merger agreement, according to the release.
“We believe that Novo Nordisk’s offer is illusory, and cannot constitute a superior proposal under the terms of our merger agreement with Metsera because it violates antitrust law and there is a high risk it will never be consummated,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
In a statement Tuesday, Novo Nordisk confirmed its new bid and said it could maximize the potential of Metsera’s complementary drug portfolio. Novo Nordisk reiterated that the proposal complies with all applicable laws and “is in the best interest of patients who will benefit from our commitment to innovation, as well as Metsera’s shareholders.”
The new bids comes one day after Pfizer filed its second lawsuit against Novo Nordisk and Metsera, alleging that the Danish drugmaker’s attempt to outbid Pfizer to acquire the biotech company is anticompetitive.
The clash reflects the shifting landscape for blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs, with veteran Novo Nordisk now trailing rival Eli Lilly as other companies like Pfizer race to break in.
Metsera, founded in 2022, brings a pipeline of both oral and injectable treatments with different targets, including a drug targeting GLP-1 and another targeting another gut hormone called amylin. Both are being studied as potential once-monthly treatments, which would mean they are taken less frequently than the weekly injections on the market.
For Pfizer, Metsera’s pipeline could be the company’s golden ticket to enter the space after struggling to bring its own obesity products to market over the last few years. Novo Nordisk helped establish the market, but is losing market share to Eli Lilly and cheaper copycats and struggling to impress investors with its drug pipeline.
Pfizer in September said that it would acquire Metsera for $4.9 billion, or up to $7.3 billion with future payments.
But Novo Nordisk launched a takeover bid Thursday valuing the biotech at around $6 billion, or up to $9 billion, triggering a deadline of four business days for Pfizer to renegotiate its offer.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/04/novo-nordisk-pfizer-metsera-acquisition.html
