We’re reading about bidding war for Metsera, Lilly obesity drug

Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Despite howling winds lashing the Pharmalot campus, the skies are clear and sunny, and the official mascots are napping here and there. As for us, we are engaged in the usual rituals, starting with firing up the coffee kettle — our choice today is mint chocolate chip — and foraging for items of interest. On that note, please enjoy the tidbits compiled below. We hope you have a smashing day and conquer the world. And as always, please do keep in touch. …

Pfizer is preparing to sweeten its offer again for Metsera, the weight loss drug startup at the center of a bidding war that also involves Novo Nordisk, The Wall Street Journal reports. Pfizer is making plans to deliver a fresh bid ahead of a deadline it has to respond to Novo Nordisk’s latest proposal. Under the terms of its existing merger agreement with Metsera, Pfizer’s next likely step is to match Novo Nordisk’s offer. Pfizer reached a deal in September to buy Metsera for as much as $7.3 billion. Then last month, Novo Nordisk made an unsolicited proposal to pay as much as $9 billion. Both companies boosted their offers earlier this week. Novo Nordisk increased its offer to about $10 bilion, while Pfizer upped its proposal to as much as $8.1 billion. Metsera then deemed Novo Nordisk’s offer superior, leaving Pfizer to counter by the end of Wednesday or risk losing its deal. A Delaware Chancery judge denied Pfizer’s request to temporarily block the Novo Nordisk bid, ruling the objections to the deal do not warrant a delay, Bloomberg News adds.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission raised concerns about Novo Nordisk’s attempt to outbid Pfizer to acquire Metsera, the latest complication in a dramatic bidding war between two drugmakers, STAT tells us. Companies normally have to seek FTC review for acquisitions under a law called the Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Act, but must wait a prescribed amount of time after the filings are submitted before concluding their transaction. Novo’s deal is structured so that it would first pay a large amount to acquire half of Metsera’s stock. If Novo does that before seeking regulators’ review, then it may violate the act, Daniel Guarnera, director of the bureau of competition at the FTC, wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to lawyers of Novo and Metsera. Since Novo would be paying a significant amount to Metsera shareholders in this first phase of the deal, the company may then have reduced incentive to continue to develop its products and bring them to market, Guarnera wrote in the letter,