Pfizer will acquire biotech firm Metsera for at least $4.9 billion, gaining control of its obesity treatment development programs, the two American companies announced Monday in a joint statement.
With this acquisition, Pfizer intends to expand its portfolio and take a share of the gigantic market for obesity drugs, a sector that is currently booming.
“Obesity is a vast and growing field with more than 200 associated health problems. The proposed acquisition of Metsera (…) propels Pfizer into this key therapeutic area,” stressed Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO, quoted in the press release.
The transaction – which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025 – includes Pfizer's purchase of Metsera's shares for $47.5 per share, totaling $4.9 billion.
The success of treatments for obesity and diabetes – a market currently dominated by the Danish company Novo Nordisk, owner of Ozempic and Wegovy, and by the American company Eli Lilly, owner of Zepbound – has whetted the appetite of pharmaceutical companies which are multiplying acquisitions in the sector.
On Thursday, for example, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche acquired the Californian company 89bio, specializing in liver and cardiometabolic diseases, for which it will pay nearly $3.5 billion.
In March 2025, the group also entered into a partnership with the Danish company Zealand Pharma to develop with them a treatment that acts on the satiety hormone.
Pfizer was one of the first laboratories to market an mRNA vaccine against Covid-19, which boosted its revenues for several years.
However, its share price has since fallen massively, from over $58 in December 2021 to $24 at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
In electronic trading before the opening of Wall Street, Pfizer's stock was up 1.6% while Metsera's soared by 60% around 12:00 GMT.
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