(Feb 24): Pfizer Inc has acquired exclusive rights to commercialise an obesity therapy in China, strengthening its push into the fast-growing weight loss market.
The American drugmaker struck a deal with local startup Hangzhou Sciwind Bioscience Co for ecnoglutide, a drug recently approved in China for diabetes and currently under regulatory review for obesity, according to a statement on WeChat.
The deal, which is worth as much as US$495 million and grants Pfizer exclusive rights to market the drug on the Chinese mainland, includes upfront payment as well as milestone-based fees, Sciwind said, without disclosing the specifics.
It “accelerates Pfizer’s long-term strategic planning in the metabolic space and meets the growing needs of Chinese patients,” Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Pfizer’s China president, said in the statement. He noted that obesity affects 14.1% of Chinese adults and has been prioritised under the government’s Healthy China campaign.
Pfizer has been pushing hard to catch up with leaders in the weight loss space, having spent US$10 billion to acquire obesity startup Metsera Inc, after a bidding war with Novo Nordisk A/S. Late last year, it also licensed an experimental drug from a unit of China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co.
Seeking to rebuild in the aftermath of the pandemic, Pfizer is under pressure to find new sources of revenue as many of its top drugs face increased competition and its initial efforts to enter the obesity market fell flat.
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Pfizer is reckoning with waning demand for its blockbuster Covid-19 vaccine years after the pandemic. “We had lost our focus through the course of that pandemic,” said Alexandre de Germay, Pfizer’s chief international commercial officer, in an interview before the announcement.
The deal with Sciwind could also boost Pfizer’s China business, which accounted for 4% of total revenue as of 2024 but has gone through multiple rounds of restructuring over the past few years, according to local media reports. In China’s obesity market, it will be going up against both global pharmaceutical players and local rivals like Innovent Biologics Inc.
It’s part of Pfizer’s strategy to streamline its international business by only launching drugs in markets where those medicines would have significant benefit for patients. In China, the company has prioritised the rollout of Lorbrena, a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, to meet growing patient demand. It also boosted its team responsible for M&A in China, according to de Germay.
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Sciwind’s drug works similarly to Novo’s Ozempic — by mimicking the effects of a natural hormone called GLP-1 that regulates blood sugar and appetite. But it has a slightly different structure that the company believes makes the drug more effective and safer than other GLP-1 receptor agonists. In a late-stage study, ecnoglutide spurred weight loss on par with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Under the deal with Pfizer, Sciwind will still be responsible for the development, registration, manufacturing and supply of the drug.
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