Pfizer Inc‘s (NYSE:PFE) lawsuit. Novo Nordisk A/S‘ (NYSE:NVO) counterbid. And in the course of all of it — a quiet $45 million place that may flip into Andreas Halvorsen‘s subsequent masterstroke. After years of combating from the sidelines of the Ozempic growth, Pfizer is lastly throwing punches.
Pfizer is suing obesity-drug developer Metsera Inc (NASDAQ:MTSR) to dam a takeover by Novo Nordisk. The battle between the 2 pharma giants is driving MTSR inventory larger, Wednesday.
However whereas the pharma heavyweights slug it out, Viking World, Halvorsen’s $48 billion hedge fund, is quietly sitting on one of the enviable seats in the home.
The $10 Billion Prize
Novo Nordisk simply upped its bid for Metsera to $86.20 a share, valuing the biotech at roughly $10 billion, together with a contingent worth proper of as much as $24 in money. Pfizer’s provide, by comparability, tops out round $70 a share, and the corporate is fuming. CEO Albert Bourla did not mince phrases on Tuesday’s earnings name: “It’s an unlawful try by a overseas firm to do an finish run round antitrust legal guidelines, making the most of the federal government shutdown.”
That meltdown underscores simply how excessive the stakes have turn out to be within the race to dominate the following technology of weight-loss medicine — and the way determined Pfizer is to catch as much as Novo’s runaway success with Ozempic and Wegovy.
Learn Additionally: Novo, Lilly, Pfizer: Who Wins If Trump Slashes Costs?
The Sensible Cash Obtained There First
Whereas Massive Pharma battles in courtrooms and boardrooms, hedge fund titans are already counting their features. Viking World, which first disclosed its stake in Metsera at a median worth of $27.22, is out of the blue wanting prescient.
Fellow billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel additionally constructed a place earlier this 12 months — small by Viking’s requirements, however now up greater than 100%.
Metsera’s proprietary nutrient-stimulated hormone analog peptides — a mouthful that may simply redefine weight problems remedy — have made it the biotech each pharma participant out of the blue desires to personal.
The Takeaway
Pfizer’s lawsuit might purchase time, but it surely additionally alerts worry. That’s, worry of lacking the following multibillion-dollar fat-loss franchise. Novo Nordisk desires to personal it. Pfizer desires to cease it. However because the giants wrestle over who will get the way forward for weight-loss, Viking might have already got it locked up.
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