Pfizer acquires Metsera for $4.9B as pharma giants target obesity market

Investing.com - Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) announced Monday its proposed acquisition of Metsera (MTSR) for $47.50 per share in cash, representing a 43% premium and a $4.9 billion enterprise value. According to InvestingPro data, Metsera maintains strong financial health with a current ratio of 5.26 and holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet.

The deal includes an additional contingent value right (CVR) of $22.50 per share, potentially bringing the total transaction value to $7.3 billion. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.

This transaction follows recent acquisitions by Roche (RHHBY) of 89bio (ETNB) and Carmot for total values of up to $3.5 billion and $3.1 billion respectively, highlighting major pharmaceutical companies’ growing interest in obesity and metabolic disease platforms.

BTIG views these acquisitions as demonstrating large pharma’s willingness to pay premiums for companies in the metabolic disease space, noting potential positive implications for other companies with obesity treatment pipelines.

The research firm specifically mentioned Viking as having "one of the few remaining late-stage and class-leading obesity franchises" with both oral and subcutaneous programs, maintaining its Buy rating and $125 price target on Viking’s stock.

In other recent news, Metsera Inc. reported a second-quarter loss of $0.66 per share, which was worse than the analyst estimates of a $0.63 loss. This financial shortfall has overshadowed the progress in their pipeline of injectable and oral hormone analogs for obesity treatment. Despite the earnings miss, Cantor Fitzgerald has reiterated its Overweight rating on Metsera, highlighting upcoming catalysts in the company’s obesity treatment pipeline. The firm expects several updates in the next six months across Metsera’s injectable and oral peptide portfolio, which should showcase the breadth of its obesity pipeline.

Additionally, Leerink Partners has initiated coverage on Metsera with an Outperform rating and a $77.00 price target. This decision was based on Metsera’s platform and pipeline of novel obesity peptide-based therapeutics, which offer key advantages over competing market assets. Meanwhile, Wolfe Research has maintained an Underperform rating on Pfizer , with a price target of $25.00. Wolfe Research pointed out Pfizer’s anticipated topline data from VESPER-1 and interim data from VESPER-3 for MET-097i expected by the end of September 2025. These developments provide investors with important insights into the companies’ current and future prospects.

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