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(Reuters) -Pfizer mentioned on Friday it had filed a lawsuit towards Metsera and Novo Nordisk , saying Metsera breached its merger settlement obligations in declaring the Danish drugmaker’s $8.5 billion bid for the U.S. weight problems drug developer to be a superior supply.
Pfizer requested the Delaware court docket the place it filed the lawsuit to concern a brief restraining order to dam Metsera from terminating the settlement. The lawsuit was not instantly obtainable within the court docket’s digital submitting system.
Metsera has given Pfizer till Tuesday to boost its supply.
Pfizer mentioned its go well with says that Novo’s bid is an unlawful try by a dominant firm available in the market to bypass antitrust scrutiny and carries important regulatory dangers.
The authorized motion comes as Pfizer obtained early antitrust clearance for its proposed $7.3 billion acquisition of Metsera from the U.S. Federal Commerce Fee. It granted early termination of the ready interval underneath the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, greater than every week forward of the November 7 deadline.
Pfizer, which doesn’t at the moment promote a weight-loss drug, is attempting to enter the fast-growing weight problems market projected to achieve $150 billion by the early 2030s.
The corporate has confronted setbacks in creating its personal remedies and is trying to offset falling COVID-related income and looming patent expirations.
Novo Nordisk, maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, is looking for to regain floor misplaced to Eli Lilly, whose medicine Zepbound and Mounjaro have proven stronger scientific outcomes.
Metsera’s pipeline contains experimental GLP-1 and amylin-based therapies that analysts say might generate $5 billion in peak gross sales.
Metsera and Novo didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for remark.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury, Christy Santhosh and Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Shilpi Majumdar and Anil D’Silva)
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