The high-stakes bidding war that culminated last year between Novo Nordisk and Pfizer to acquire Metsera provided a clear illustration of just how motivated large pharmas are to stake their claim on up-and-coming candidates in the obesity space.
While Pfizer ultimately closed the deal, the scramble for new weight loss assets is only ramping up, as Big Pharma companies look to position themselves in a global market projected to reach $190 billion by 2035.
In particular, companies are eyeing next-generation treatments that build on the slimming power of first-generation GLP-1s with fewer side effects and more patient-friendly dosing.
But the scarcity of late-stage assets is positioning a handful of biotechs as potentially attractive acquisition targets, including the three companies below.
Viking Therapeutics
This San Diego-based clinical-stage biotech is considered a top acquisition target due to its later-stage candidates and strong clinical trial results.
Its lead GLP-1/GIP dual agonist candidate, VK2735, is being tested as both an injectable and a patient-friendly pill. The program is especially appealing to companies looking for a potentially quick on ramp to the market. The injectable is already in phase 3, and Viking plans to begin a registrational trial for the pill later this year.
Both versions of the drug demonstrated strong weight loss potential in phase 2. The injectable medication delivered mean body weight reductions up to 14.7% after 13 weekly doses compared to 12.2% for the oral version. Importantly, these early trials showed no evidence of the plateau that has plagued some other GLP-1 therapies.
But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. The pill version hit some turbulence in its mid-stage trial when it showed a patient discontinuation rate above 20% across all doses due to side effects, such as vomiting, a finding that temporarily spooked investors.
While phase 3 results won’t be ready this year, the company anticipates a third-quarter readout for a phase 1 study that will help answer another critical question for obesity drugs: How much medication is enough to maintain weight loss? The company is testing dosing options for both the pill and the injectable to offer patients a clear path to weight maintenance.
If approached by a larger pharma, analysts say the company would be well-poised to hold out for a favorable deal because it’s got enough cash to fund its operations into 2028.
Structure Therapeutics
Structure Therapeutics is also attracting attention in the obesity space. The company is developing a diversified pipeline of weight loss pills that leverage different mechanisms. Its most advanced drug, aleniglipron, showed strong results in phase 2, achieving a mean weight loss of 16.3% with the 180 mg dose at 44 weeks, which the company described as the strongest showing for a GLP-1 pill so far. Like Viking’s drug, it also seemed to sidestep the dreaded weight loss plateau, but patients still experienced the typical stomach issues common with this class of medicines.
“The consistent weight loss observed across multiple studies to date reaffirms aleniglipron’s potential to be a best-in-class oral GLP-1, with injectable-like efficacy that could become a backbone oral small molecule therapy for obesity,” said Raymond Stevens, CEO of Structure Therapeutics, in a written release.
Based on these results, the company anticipates the phase 3 study to kick off in the second half of 2026.
In addition to aleniglipron, the company has a number of earlier-stage drugs in the works developed with other weight loss mechanisms, including two dual amylin and calcitonin receptor agonists. Amylin, a major metabolic hormone, is a popular development target because researchers hope it can induce superior weight loss with fewer stomach-churning side effects than GLP-1 drugs. Large pharmas like AbbVie, Pfizer and AstraZeneca are also exploring amylin drugs.
Like Viking, Structure appears well-positioned financially with $1.4 billion to fund operations into 2028, according to Seeking Alpha.
Kailera Therapeutics
Kailera Therapeutics is well-funded with a strong weight loss pipeline it hopes can compete with current market leaders Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. The company’s CEO, Ron Renaud, is experienced in navigating acquisitions, having guided sales of three other biotechs. Although, for the moment, the company plans to go it alone with commercializing its products, according to BioPharmaDive.
Kailera’s most advanced obesity drug is a GLP-1/GIP agonist called ribupatide, which it is developing in partnership with Hengrui Pharma. Now in a global phase 3 trial, the drug posted strong results from a China-only late-stage study. In that trial, a 6 mg dose of the drug achieved a mean weight loss of 9.2% without signs of a plateau at 48 weeks.
The biotech also has two earlier-stage obesity pills in the works, including an oral version of ribupatide, which generated 12.1% mean weight loss over 26 weeks in phase 2. Those candidates are in addition to a tri-agonist shot, KAI-4729, which is similar to Lilly’s retatrutide. The Kailera injection delivered 16% mean weight loss in 12 weeks and will now move into phase 2 for both obesity and MASH in China and phase 1 outside of China this year.
