By Sabrina Valle and Maggie Fick
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -A bidding war over U.S. biotech Metsera was coming to a head on Thursday, with Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk locked in a $10 billion battle with U.S. rival Pfizer to win Metsera’s obesity drug assets.
Reuters reported that Pfizer was planning to sweeten its bid for Metsera by a Wednesday midnight deadline agreed by the companies, citing a person familiar with the matter, after a judge denied Pfizer’s request to block Novo’s higher offer.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that Novo had once again raised its bid after Pfizer matched Novo’s offer. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm that report.
Metsera, Pfizer and Novo did not immediately comment on the report of the renewed bids.
Metsera shares jumped 13% in Thursday trading in New York and have gained more than 50% since Novo jumped into the fray.
AN ASSET WORTH FIGHTING FOR?
Pfizer is racing against the clock to salvage a deal after Novo trumped its offer for the startup and its next-generation GLP-1 weight-loss treatments. Some analysts estimate the obesity drug market will hit $150 billion early next decade.
The drama began last week when Novo launched an unsolicited bid – its seventh since the quiet tussle began in January – threatening Pfizer’s $7.3 billion agreement with Metsera announced in September.
Until Wednesday night, Metsera’s sales agreement with Pfizer was still active. But Metsera considered Novo’s unsolicited bid “superior”. Pfizer strongly opposes that view and has said Novo’s bid would face regulatory pushback.
Novo says its offer complies with all relevant laws.
The battle pits two of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies against each other as they jostle for position in the lucrative but increasingly competitive obesity drug market.
Novo is trying to recover a once-commanding position that it has lost to Eli Lilly, while Pfizer is seeking to break into the market and overcome past stumbles in the field.
“Some assets are truly worth fighting over,” said Peter Kolchinsky, managing partner at RA Capital, a major investor in early-stage biotech firms, and a top-20 shareholder in Metsera.
Over the past week, the fight has been marked by litigation, duelling press releases, and a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission questioning the legality of Novo’s two-step acquisition plan.
Pfizer shares were up 1.3%; Novo Nordisk gained 2% in Europe.
(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in New York, Maggie Fick, Bhanvi Satija in London, and Christy Santhosh in Bengalaru. Editing by Adam Jourdan and Mark Potter)
