The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has entered into a significant licensing agreement with Danish company Zealand Pharma, committing to pay $1.65 billion for rights to an experimental obesity treatment that Zealand began testing in Phase 2b trials last December.
The deal structure includes an upfront payment of $1.4 billion to Zealand, with an additional $250 million in anniversary payments. The total value could reach $5.3 billion if certain milestones are achieved. The agreement establishes a co-commercialization partnership between the two companies in the United States and European markets, with both sharing in profits and losses.
This strategic move gives Roche access to petrelintide, an amylin analog drug candidate. This represents a new therapeutic approach for Roche, complementing its existing obesity drug portfolio acquired through its $2.7 billion purchase of Carmot Therapeutics 15 months ago. Roche intends to evaluate petrelintide both as a standalone treatment and in combination with other drugs, including Carmot’s CT-388, a GLP-1/GIP combination therapy. Zealand may reimburse Roche up to $350 million for combination development efforts.
The partnership reflects the pharmaceutical industry’s intense interest in the obesity treatment market, which analysts project could reach $100 billion in annual sales. Amylin analogs have emerged as a particularly attractive target, as evidenced by AbbVie’s recent $350 million licensing agreement with Danish company Gubra.
This surge in amylin-focused deals comes despite some market uncertainty following Novo Nordisk’s mixed results with CagriSema, a combination treatment incorporating an amylin-targeting component with Wegovy’s active ingredient. While CagriSema showed improvements over Wegovy alone, it failed to demonstrate superior efficacy compared to Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, which combines GLP-1 and GIP targeting mechanisms.
Industry analyst William Blair’s Andy Hsieh suggests that GLP-1/GIP combinations may represent the most promising approach for widespread weight loss treatment, offering an optimal balance of efficacy and tolerability. Nevertheless, amylin-targeting drugs have demonstrated weight loss benefits and could prove valuable in combination therapies. The field has attracted numerous players, including Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and startup Metsera.
A crucial aspect of the Roche-Zealand deal is Roche’s assumption of commercial manufacturing and supply responsibilities. This addresses a potential challenge that Zealand might have faced launching
independently, particularly given the supply constraints that initially hampered Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s ability to meet demand for their obesity drugs. The manufacturing component has become increasingly important in the obesity drug market, as evidenced by Viking’s recent $150 million agreement with a contract manufacturer to support its experimental drug production.
The agreement represents a significant expansion of Roche’s presence in the competitive obesity drug market, building on its previous Carmot acquisition. By securing rights to petrelintide, Roche gains access to a promising amylin analog while Zealand benefits from the resources and manufacturing capabilities of a major pharmaceutical company. The partnership positions both companies to compete in the rapidly growing market for obesity treatments, where demand continues to surge and new therapeutic approaches are being actively pursued by multiple industry players.