November 10, 2025

• less than 3 min read

Pfizer emerged victorious in its bid to acquire biotech company Metsera, after besting Novo Nordisk in a rivalry that had been compared to Game of Thrones.

What’s driving the drug drama?

The weight loss drug industry could be worth $150 billion by the early 2030s, according to Reuters. Broad demand has spurred biotech companies to increase supply, some more successfully than others:

• The leaders in the space are Eli Lilly, maker of Zepbound and Mounjaro, and Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic and Wegovy.
• Pfizer developed two oral weight loss medications of its own, but abandoned them after trial patients experienced significant side effects, most recently, in April 2025.
• Metsera was founded in 2022 to develop “next-generation” obesity and metabolic disease treatments. It IPO’d on January 31 of this year. It’s a clinical-stage company with several new weight loss treatments in trials.

In September, Pfizer offered up to $7.3 billion for Metsera, and it seemed a straightforward acquisition would ensue.

**But that was just the beginning. **At the end of October, Novo Nordisk submitted an “unsolicited proposal” to acquire Metsera worth up to $9 billion. Mizhuo healthcare equity strategist Jared Holz told clients that Novo Nordisk seemed to want Metsera as much for itself as it did to keep the company’s drugs-in-development “out of the hands” of competitors.

**Parting shots: **After plenty of back-and-forth, threatened lawsuits, and soundbites, Pfizer submitted an updated $10 billion offer, which Metsera accepted on Friday while saying that striking a deal with Novo presented “unacceptably high legal and regulatory risks.” On Saturday, Novo said it believed its submission was “compliant with antitrust law,” but declared it would not submit a counteroffer.

**Big picture: **On Thursday, the Trump administration announced what the Washington Post called “complicated” plans to significantly lower the price of weight loss drugs starting next year. Expanding access to the medications would help the drugmakers behind them grow exponentially.—HVL

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