Six key obesity deals in 2025

Since the respective approvals of Novo Nordisk’s and Eli Lilly’s blockbuster drugs a few years ago, obesity deals have become all the rage in the biopharma industry. The dealmaking here is largely dominated by big pharma companies, as they race to expand their metabolic disease pipelines amid the surging demand for next-generation weight-loss therapies. These industry giants are increasingly partnering with smaller biotechs developing novel medicines, such as triple receptor agonists, amylin analogs, and oral peptides, to complement their current GLP-1 portfolios and address issues like tolerability, durability, and supply constraints. In this article, we look at six key obesity deals made in 2025. 

Roche and Zealand Pharma 

In one of the standout deals of the year so far, Roche entered into a $5.3 billion collaboration and license agreement with peptide therapeutics company Zealand Pharma to co-develop and co-commercialize Zealand’s obesity drug as a future foundational therapy for people who are overweight and obese.  

The obesity therapy in question is called petrelintide and is a long-acting amylin analog suitable for once-weekly subcutaneous administration that has been designed with chemical and physical stability with no fibrillation around neutral pH, allowing for co-formulation and co-administration with other peptides. Amylin receptor activation is one of the “next-generation” methods of reducing body weight, and many industry analysts believe that amylin analogs are the next wave of obesity treatments that could serve as an alternative or complementary option to GLP-1 injections.  

The partnership involves Roche and Zealand Pharma co-developing and co-commercializing petrelintide as a monotherapy, and also as a fixed-dose combination with CT-388, Roche’s lead incretin asset and potential best-in-class GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist. Ultimately, the agreement aims to unlock the full value of petrelintide, redefining the standard of care for people who are overweight or have obesity by “establishing the leading amylin-based franchise.”  

Breaking down the financials more closely, it was agreed that Zealand Pharma would receive $1.65 billion upfront and would be eligible to receive $1.2 billion in development milestones – primarily linked to initiation of phase 3 trials of petrelintide as a monotherapy – and $2.4 billion in sales-based milestones. Meanwhile, profits and losses for petrelintide and the petrelintide/CT-388 combination therapy will be shared on a 50/50 basis in the U.S. and Europe, and Zealand Pharma is eligible to receive tiered double-digit royalties up to high teens percentage on net sales in the rest of the world. 

Novo Nordisk and Septerna 

As one of the leaders in the obesity market, it is no surprise to see Novo Nordisk investing in its obesity and cardiometabolic pipeline. One of its main deals this year was a $2.2 billion collaboration and license agreement in May with Septerna to discover, develop, and commercialize oral small molecule drugs for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases. 

The companies’ initial focus involves commencing four development programmes for potential small molecule therapies directed to one or more select G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, including the GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptors.  

GPCRs are a historically challenging target class, where functional selectivity and structural complexity demand next-generation computational solutions. Septerna has proprietary technologies that can isolate, purify, and reconstitute GPCRs outside of cells into complexes with ligands, transducer proteins, and lipid bilayers which mimic cell membranes. These reconstituted assemblies are called Native Complexes because they replicate the natural structure, function, and dynamics of GPCRs in purified biochemical formats. 

Both companies will jointly conduct research activities from discovery through to development candidate selection. Then, when the candidates reach investigational new drug (IND)-enabling activities, Novo will have sole responsibility for all global development and commercialization activities. Additionally, Septerna has the right to opt in to a worldwide profit share for one program in the collaboration in lieu of future milestones and royalties for that product candidate. 

Eli Lilly and Superluminal Medicines 

As the other leader in the obesity market, Eli Lilly has also plumped up its obesity pipeline this year, with one of its standout deals being a $1.3 billion artificial intelligence (AI)- based pact with Superluminal Medicines that revolves around GPCRs.  

More specifically, the agreement focuses on the advancement of small molecule therapies targeting undisclosed GPCR targets relevant to cardiometabolic diseases and obesity. The collaboration leverages Superluminal’s structure-based drug discovery platform in combination with Eli Lilly’s small molecule development and commercialization expertise to rapidly advance potentially life-changing medicines.  

Superluminal’s platform has achieved a deep integration of AI/machine learning (ML) with biology, structural biology, and chemistry expertise. Meanwhile, its predict-design-test architecture accurately models protein shapes and designs highly selective compounds to target the precise structural change for therapeutic effect, and its discovery engine is powered by a pharmacokinetic and toxicology in silico prediction capability. 

AbbVie and Gubra  

Another pharma giant dipping its toes into the obesity field is AbbVie, having joined the race in March this year when it struck a deal with Gubra, a company specializing in preclinical contract research services and peptide-based drug discovery within metabolic and fibrotic diseases.  

The licensing agreement between the two companies focused on Gubra’s asset GUB014295, or GUBamy, which is a once-weekly subcutaneous amylin analog, currently in phase 1 of development. Gubra announced positive interim results for the candidate in April, signaling that AbbVie has potentially made a good bet on the drug despite it being early stages. 

Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie is to lead development and commercialization activities globally. Meanwhile, Gubra received $350 million upfront and is eligible to receive up to $1.875 billion in development, commercial, and sales milestone payments with tiered royalties on global net sales.  

Novo Nordisk and The United Laboratories  

In March, Novo decided to take a bet on a “triple G” obesity drug as it forged a $2 billion deal with The United Laboratories for UBT251, a triple agonist of the receptors for GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon.  

At the time of the deal, the candidate was in phase 2 of clinical development for the treatment of obesity, and had previously resulted in an average weight loss of 15.1% from baseline at the highest subcutaneous dose of 6mg in a phase 1b trial.  

Additionally, when the deal was made, the candidate had already been approved for clinical trials in China in adult type 2 diabetes, overweight or obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as for clinical trials in the U.S. in adult type 2 diabetes, overweight or obesity, and CKD. 

Under the agreement, Novo obtained exclusive worldwide rights (excluding Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) to develop, manufacture, and commercialize UBT251. United Biotechnology, meanwhile, retain the rights for the obesity drug in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The Chinese biotech received an upfront payment of $200 million and is eligible to receive potential milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion, as well as tiered royalties on net sales outside of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. 

Regeneron and Hansoh Pharma 

In June, in order to expand its obesity pipeline, which consisted at the time of a GDF8 antibody called trevogrumab, Regeneron decided to strike a licensing deal with Chinese biotech company Hansoh Pharma for a phase 3 GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist.  

Hansoh’s candidate, known as (HS-20094), which has already been studied in more than 1,000 patients and administered as a weekly subcutaneous injection, has demonstrated promising efficacy and safety data, suggesting a potentially similar profile to the only FDA-approved GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist – Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. At the time of the agreement, the candidate was undergoing a phase 3 trial in obesity in China and a phase 2b study in diabetes. 

The financial terms of the obesity deal stated that Regeneron would make an upfront payment of $80 million to Hansoh, with potential additional payments of up to $1.93 billion for the achievement of development, regulatory and sales milestones. Meanwhile, future potential royalties for global net sales outside of designated territories would be in the low double digits.