Pfizer to buy weight-loss drug firm Metsera for $4.9 billion

After abandoning the development of an oral weight-loss drug, Pfizer is getting back in the game. The US pharma giant has agreed to buy Metsera, which is developing a range of weight-loss drugs, for $4.9 billion, with the potential for more payments in the future.

Metsera, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 2022 and launched publicly in April 2024 with $290 million in financing from some of the top venture capital firms, including F-Prime Capital, GV, and Mubadala Investment. The company was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange earlier this year.

Metsera is developing peptide-based injectables and pills targeting the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and amylin receptors. Its most advanced candidate is the GLP-1 agonist MET-097i, a once-monthly injectable that demonstrated efficacy in Phase 2 clinical trials. The molecule is based on the company’s peptide lipidation platform, which allows peptides to bind simultaneously to albumin and a drug target, leading to a prolonged half-life.

Metsera is also developing a peptide that works as an amylin agonist, which it is studying as a combination treatment with MET-097i in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Its other assets, still in early clinical stages, include oral peptides targeting GLP-1.

The acquisition highlights Pfizer’s eagerness to be in the company of other Big Pharma firms that are developing their own weight-loss and antidiabetic drugs after the phenomenal commercial success of the weekly GLP-1-based injectables made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company.

The two leaders are also developing their own oral drugs. A recent study showed that Lilly’s small-molecule candidate outperformed Novo Nordisk’s oral version of its weight-loss drug, which is based on the peptide semaglutide.

Earlier this year, Pfizer discontinued clinical studies of danuglipron, a small molecule targeting GLP-1, after noticing drug-induced liver injury among the participants.

A 2023 J.P. Morgan report estimates that the global market for GLP-1 drugs could surpass $100 billion by 2030.