🤝The Trump administration revealed discounts for blockbuster weight loss drugs this week in what HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called “the most important of all the MFN announcements we’ve made.” 

The details: Officials said the average monthly price of the companies’ GLP-1 products would be $350 per month via TrumpRx, which will be lowered to about $250 over two years. The price of Novo's injectable Wegovy and Ozempic will be $350 per month, while the average monthly price of Lilly's Zepbound, Mounjaro and future oral weight loss pill will be $346, Max Bayer reported. The initial dose of the oral versions, should they be approved, will be sold on TrumpRx at $149 per month.

Lilly announced separately that it will offer the lowest dose of its Zepbound multi-dose injectable pens for $299 per month for self-pay patients, with additional doses up to $449 per month. Lilly and Novo also agreed to offer MFN pricing on all new medicines they bring to market. 

In exchange, Medicare will expand its coverage of the drugs to certain patients with obesity. Currently, GLP-1s are only covered by Medicare when they are prescribed for eligible conditions other than weight loss. Administration officials said that certain pre-existing conditions will still be tied to coverage depending on a patient's body mass index level, but patients with severe obesity alone will be eligible for weight loss coverage, Max reported. Lilly and Novo also get a three-year reprieve from tariffs. 

Novo CEO Mike Doustdar said the deal could give the pharma company an edge against compounders. Novo and Lilly have filed dozens of lawsuits against pharmacies, med spas, weight loss clinics and telehealth companies selling cheaper compounded versions of GLP-1s. “With the reduction of the price, hopefully many of these patients don’t need to choose their safety over their wallet and now are able to find the real thing at a very decent price,” Doustdar said at the White House. 

Metsera accepted Pfizer's bid, worth $10 billion in total, late on Friday night. Novo Nordisk said Saturday morning that it would not make a new offer.

A week ago, Pfizer had just filed a lawsuit against both companies, alleging anticompetitive behavior from Novo. In the days since, however, Pfizer and Novo each raised their earlier offers to at least $10 billion to try and clinch the deal. Novo actually raised its offer again on Thursday, but did not disclose the deal value during that attempt.

This has all happened despite the legal battle continuing to play out in real time. Pfizer filed a second suit in Delaware federal court. Metsera called Pfizer’s claims “nonsense.” Then, a judge ruled in favor of Metsera in the first case, denying Pfizer’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented Metsera from terminating the Pfizer buyout plan. At the same time, the FTC — which would need to sign off on any deal — expressed concerns over the structure of Novo’s bid.

Both companies also reported earnings this week. Novo Nordisk’s sales miss underlined its need to walk away from the situation with a Metsera acquisition, senior biopharma journalist Elizabeth Cairns writes.

As the story unfolded, we had you covered from every angle. Biotech correspondent Kyle LaHucik noted that everyone was talking about the deal at the ObesityWeek conference in Atlanta. Pfizer and Novo also made some personnel changes, which you can read about in our weekly Peer Review column.

📊 Third-quarter earnings season continued this week, with reports coming in from several pharma companies. Here’s what happened: 

• BioNTech raised its full-year guidance due to a windfall from its PD-1xVEGF bispecific collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb.
• Pfizer disclosed 11 program cuts, including a Phase 3 sickle cell disease drug known as inclacumab and a Phase 2 MASH program.
• AstraZeneca reported record-breaking quarterly sales figures.
• Moderna’s third-quarter revenue was down 45% from the same period last year, as shrinking vaccine uptake and low RSV sales posed challenges.
• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals said it welcomes competition in the MASH space from Novo Nordisk.
• Teva CEO Richard Francis said IRA negotiations were “consistent with our midterm expectations.”

Sarepta is no stranger to controversy. The company’s first product was approved in 2016 despite a negative advisory committee, and its confirmatory studies have taken years to complete. Sarepta faced problems earlier this year as well, when one of its products was pulled from the market and then returned. 

But results came back for two of its drugs this week, and they weren't all that exciting: Two of its exon-skipping therapies for forms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy failed to meet their primary endpoint.