Roche Strikes $2.7 Billion Takeover for Carmot in Push for Obesity Market
Swiss drugmaker Roche has agreed to acquire unlisted obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion upfront, with up to $400 million in milestone payments, marking a significant move in the race for new obesity drugs.
The takeover signals Roche’s entry into the fiercely competitive weight-loss market, pitting it against established players such as Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Carmot’s most promising drug candidate, a once-a-week injection called CT-388, has shown promising results in Phase I trials. Roche anticipates the drug could be ready for market launch in the 2030s, potentially challenging the dominance of existing weight-loss medications.
The weight-loss drug market, estimated to reach as much as $100 billion, has seen substantial demand for new treatment options. Roche’s acquisition of Carmot signals the company’s ambition to revitalize its product pipeline in response to declining oncology sales.
Roche’s CEO, Thomas Schinecker, has been aggressive in pursuing various therapeutic fields to offset falling oncology sales, with the recent Carmot deal marking the company’s return to the GLP-1 field after abandoning it in 2018.
With this acquisition, Roche is looking to position CT-388 as a leading obesity drug, aiming for deeper and quicker weight loss with improved tolerability compared to existing options.
The deal with Carmot is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. The acquisition aligns with Roche’s strategic goal of diversifying its portfolio and expanding into emerging therapeutic areas.
The acquisition also underscores the intensifying competition in the pharmaceutical industry to develop and commercialize groundbreaking obesity treatments to address the growing global health concern.
Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt. Additional reporting by Noel Illien in Zurich. Editing by Rachel More, Louise Heavens, and Sharon Singleton.