Pfizer buys Metsera, a weight-loss drug maker, for $4.9 billion

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will acquire Metsera, a maker of obesity and heart disease drugs, for $4.9 billion, the companies announced Monday.

With the purchase, Pfizer aims to expand its portfolio and enter the huge and growing market for drugs to treat obesity, it said in the joint statement. This is seen as the biggest deal yet by a big pharma group trying to gain a foothold in the lucrative market.

As part of the deal, Pfizer will pay Metsera $47.50 in cash per share, representing an enterprise value of $4.9 billion. But if three specific milestones are met for another clinical trial still in development, Metsera shareholders will also receive an additional $22.50 per share, meaning the transaction could be worth as much as $7.3 billion, Financial Times explained.

The deal, the largest example of a deal involving an experimental weight-loss treatment, represents a substantial premium to Metsera's closing price on Friday of $33.32 in New York. Pfizer shares were up 1.7% in premarket trading, while Metsera shares were up nearly 60%.

The move offers Pfizer a chance to compete in the battle for next-generation anti-obesity drug development, after the treatment it was developing in-house, danuglipron, failed in clinical trials this year.

Albert Bourla, Pfizer's chief executive, said the deal "propels Pfizer into this key therapeutic area." "Obesity is a broad and growing problem, with more than 200 associated conditions," he added in the official release.

A miracle drug?

Metsera's lead drug, MET-097i, resulted in an 11.3% reduction in body mass after 12 weeks in a phase two trial with limited side effects. The company also recently announced that it is testing the drug as a long-acting monthly injection.

The biotech company is also developing a weight-loss pill.

In 2023, Pfizer paid $43 billion for Seagen, a biotech company focused on researching cancer treatments.