After a chaotic and fierce bidding clash that only burst out into public view a little more than a week ago, Pfizer has prevailed in its pursuit of obesity biotech Metsera.
The companies agreed to an acquisition with a value of up to $86.25 per Metsera share, consisting of $65.60 per share up front and a contingent value right of up to $20.65, Metsera said in a press release late Friday.
In all, the deal could be worth more than $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
In late September, the companies agreed on a deal worth up to $7.3 billion. But since then, Danish obesity giant Novo Nordisk stepped in to try and wrangle Metsera from Pfizer's arms with a deal proposal worth up to $9 billion.
Lawsuits quickly followed, and the pharma giants have floated improved offers behind the scenes in recent days. As of earlier this week, Novo's offer was for up to $86.20 per Metsera share, or "approximately $10.0 billion," Metsera said Tuesday.
Playing in Pfizer's favor was Federal Trade Commission scrutiny of Novo Nordisk's approach. This week, an official at the agency wrote a letter to lawyers for Novo Nordisk and Metsera voicing concerns about the structure of Novo's proposal.
In addition, Metsera received a call from the FTC "regarding potential risks from proceeding with the proposed Novo Nordisk structure," the biotech said in its Friday announcement. In the end, the biotech's board decided the Novo deal presented "unacceptably high legal and regulatory risks," according to the release.
For its part, Novo Nordisk put out a press release Saturday morning confirming that it does not intend to increase its offer for Metsera.
The crown jewel of Metsera’s pipeline is MET-097i, an injectable GLP-1 asset in phase 2b testing that could be dosed just once a month. For Pfizer, the addition of such an asset may provide an entry into the fast-growing, multibillion-dollar obesity market after a series of R&D setbacks in the field.