Will Pfizer hit it big with Metsera, or have regrets?

At a price of up to $10 billion, Pfizer has claimed victory in its bidding war against Novo Nordisk to acquire Metsera and its investigational obesity treatments. But in doing so, the company has also taken on significant risks.

Will the deal prove to have been worth it? 

“If the whole thing fails, then we overpaid. If the whole thing succeeds, then it’s a fucking good deal,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview with CNBC Monday.

Pfizer has struggled to join the booming market for obesity drugs, missing out on the first wave of weight loss medicines and then repeatedly trying and failing to catch up with drugs of its own. The company, which has lost more than half of its value since the height of the pandemic, is working to rebuild its business as demand for its blockbuster vaccine and pill for Covid-19 has dramatically declined.