Pfizer and Novo Nordisk’s bidding war for the weight loss drugmaker Metsera is intensifying.
Five updates:
1. Pfizer matched Novo Nordisk’s $10 billion bid for the biotech firm Nov. 5, one day after Novo’s $86.20 per share offer, sources told the Financial Times. Novo Nordisk reportedly upped its bid again Nov. 6, according to a separate report from the Times.
2. The bidding war coincides with a legal battle among the three drugmakers. Pfizer filed a lawsuit Oct. 31 against Metsera, its board and Novo Nordisk in federal court, alleging breach of contract and unlawful interference with its initial merger agreement with Metsera.
3. On Nov. 5, a Delaware federal judge refused Pfizer’s request to block Metsera from terminating its merger agreement, allowing the company to consider Novo’s higher bid. In a statement to the Times, Pfizer said it will continue pursuing its contract and antitrust claims in federal court, calling Novo’s offer an “illegal scheme to circumvent antitrust scrutiny.”
4. The Federal Trade Commission also weighed in, warning Novo Nordisk that the structure of its deal “may violate” competition laws and asked that the companies address the commission’s concerns before completing any transaction, according to the Times. Novo said it is having constructive discussions with the agency and remains confident about the legality of its offer.
5. Metsera said it was “gratified” by the court’s decision and called Pfizer’s litigation “nonsense” in a Nov. 5 statement. The company is slated to hold a stockholder meeting Nov. 13 to vote on the deal.
