Pfizer loses bid to temporarily block Novo's Metsera offer

A judge denied Pfizer Inc.'s request to temporarily block Novo Nordisk A/S' $10 billion bid to acquire the obesity startup Metsera Inc., saying the US pharmaceutical company's objections to the deal don't warrant a delay.

- Bloomberg

Delaware Chancery Judge Morgan Zurn concluded Wednesday that Pfizer didn't level legitimate complaints about Novo's effort to supplant it as New York-based Metsera's buyer and refused to bar the Danish company from proceeding with the transaction.

Pfizer has matched Novo's offer for Metsera, the Financial Times reported late Wednesday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. The company had already raised its original bid earlier this week to retain its hold on the startup.

The court's ruling removes one impediment to Novo's unconventional plan to acquire the three-year-old company with a handful of experimental drugs in the hottest section of the pharmaceutical industry. The medicines include a weightloss shot that could rival market-leading drugs from Novo and Eli Lilly & Co., triggering a bidding war over the startup that's involved more than a half-dozen companies.

Pfizer said the court's decision fails to address the legal issues that the company had raised.