Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says aggressive bid for Metsera reflects company's 'right to win' obesity market

Pfizer (PFE) CEO and president Albert Bourla told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi during Yahoo Finance's yearly Invest league that the $10 cardinal acquisition of GLP-1 shaper Metsera (MTSR) is portion of the Big Pharma company's "right to win" successful the obesity cause game.

Pfizer rival Novo Nordisk (NVO), the shaper of the GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, had enactment successful aggregate escalating bids for Metsera, which makes a monthly GLP-1 injection. Pfizer was forced to treble its connection from an archetypal bid of $4.9 billion.

Pfizer traded astir level connected Monday successful the archetypal trading league aft the announcement, but has since gained astir 4.9%.

Part of Metsera's portfolio is, similar others, a play GLP-1. But cardinal to the Metsera portfolio, Bourla said, is its monthly GLP-1, which volition beryllium market-leading. He said Pfizer is the close institution to bring the merchandise to market.

"We are a institution that knows however to tally monolithic vaccine trials ... we are a institution that knows however to manufacture astatine scale," Bourla said.

If each goes good and Pfizer moves accelerated connected development, Bourla said, helium sees Metsera's caller GLP-1 products hitting the marketplace successful 2028.

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Shares successful the cause marketplace person fallen acold down the S&P 500 (^GSPC) passim the year, down astir 2.5% since the commencement of 2025. The stock terms has fallen by much than 55% since its all-time high, reached during the throes of the pandemic arsenic Pfizer became 1 of 3 large COVID-19 vaccine providers alongside Moderna (MRNA) and AstraZeneca (AZN).

Through the backmost of 2024 and into the beforehand fractional of 2025, Pfizer — and Bourla — besides faced down an activistic run from concern steadfast Starboard Value, which argued that Pfizer had squandered pandemic revenues and sought to regenerate Bourla arsenic CEO. Starboard began unwinding its involvement successful May erstwhile it became wide the run was mostly unsuccessful.

Healthcare has besides taken a beforehand spot successful Washington successful the past fewer months.

In October, Pfizer agreed to a program by the Trump medication that volition spot the drugmaker little its prices successful speech for an exemption from tariffs that would person deed its concern hard. The institution volition besides enactment successful the administration's "TrumpRX" plan, which volition let customers to bargain drugs straight from the shaper astatine monolithic discounts.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has taken beardown anti-vaccine stances successful his role, which has roiled overmuch of the aesculapian community. Bourla, however, doesn't spot the posture arsenic a menace to Pfizer "because we're not going backmost to past times."