Novo Nordisk (NVO) on Thursday launched an unsolicited bid valued at up to $9B for obesity-drug developer Metsera (MTSR), hoping to top the deal Pfizer (PFE) reached last month and teeing up a potential legal battle for the biotech company, The Wall Street Journal’s Lauren Thomas and Dominic Chopping report. Before all of this, Metsera had entered into exclusive talks with another party: Bristol Myers (BMY), according to people familiar with the matter. Bristol was planning to use a mix of half cash and half stock to take over the business, the people said. The deal filing shows the unnamed party that was Bristol ultimately cited an “internal development” that made it unable to proceed with its bid. At that point, Metsera resumed discussions with Pfizer and Novo Nordisk.
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