Big Money Flowing for Obesity at Pfizer and Roche
Yesterday Pfizer announced a $7.3 billion deal to buy Metsera, a company with an impressive obesity drugs portfolio. Roche, having spent $2.7 billion to acquire Carmot in 2023 and $1.6 billion in March on a deal with Zealand, yesterday confirmed its intent to spend everything it takes to become a market leader in obesity. “We have the will,” said Roche Pharma CEO Teresa Graham to investors. Make no mistake. Big money is flowing at Pfizer and Roche to claim a piece of the obesity market.
Underscoring its commitment to advancing quickly in this market, Roche confirmed yesterday that a massive phase three clinical program for CT-388 will launch in the first half of next year. CT-388 is a dual agonist for GLP-1 and GIP receptors – like the current market leader, Lilly’s tirzepatide.
Doubling Down Despite Disappointment
The investment Pfizer announced yesterday is noteworthy because of the company’s recent experiences with obesity drug development. The ride has been bumpy. Pfizer has had to terminate two of its drugs in development for obesity. The most recent cancellation came in April when they scrapped danuglipron after a series of disappointments.
So it’s impressive to see the company double down after such profound disappointment.
Robust Market Growth
To understand the robust commitment to obesity we are seeing from Roche and Pfizer, a look at the outlook for the market helps. Yesterday in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Carles Recasens-Alvarez, Gideon Heap, and Graeme Green describe the potential for growth in this market that might serve up to 1.3 billion persons around the world.
Even with conservative assumptions, they expect the market to reach $57 billion in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan in 2033. As Roche explained to its investors, this is a market with unprecedented size and scale. It is one with vast unmet needs in many segments. One size, one medicine will never meet the diverse needs of people living with obesity.
It is the vastness of these unmet needs that explains to opportunity Pfizer, Roche, and many others see in the obesity market.
Click here for the market analysis, here for the news from Pfizer, and here for more about Roche’s outlook.
The Moneylender and His Wife, painting by Quentin Matsys / WikiArt
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September 23, 2025
