Roche Joins Obesity Drug Market With $2.7-B Carmot Deal

Roche has agreed to acquire obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion, joining a list of global contenders seeking to challenge the dominant makers of weight-loss drugs Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, as reported by Ludwig Burger and Noele Illien for Reuters.

Among recent deals to acquire obesity drug development projects, AstraZeneca last month agreed to pay up to $2 billion for the rights to an experimental pill from China's Eccogene.

In addition to the upfront purchase price of $2.7 billion, Carmot's equity holders will receive payments of up to $400 million if certain milestones are achieved, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement.

The takeover target's most promising drug candidate CT-388 belongs to a class known as a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist, the same as Lilly's Mounjaro or Zepbound.

After encouraging Phase I trial results, the drug is ready to be tested on humans in the second of three trial stages, Roche added.

Among recent deals to acquire obesity drug development projects, AstraZeneca last month agreed to pay up to $2 billion for the rights to an experimental pill from China's Eccogene.

New Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker has set a high deal pace since taking the helm in March to restore Roche's drug development pipeline, which faced major late-stage trial setbacks in Alzheimer's and cancer immunotherapy last year.

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