(Reuters) -Metsera shareholders on Thursday approved Pfizer’s takeover offer worth up to $10 billion, as per preliminary count, allowing the U.S. pharmaceutical giant to gain a foothold in the lucrative obesity treatment market after a fierce bidding war with Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk.

The approval paves the way for Pfizer to diversify beyond its shrinking COVID-19 portfolio, navigate looming patent expirations, and tap into the booming market for weight-loss drugs that analysts estimate could be worth $150 billion annually by the end of the decade.

Pfizer had discontinued two oral GLP-1 candidates – lotiglipron in 2023 and danuglipron in 2025 – due to liver safety concerns, leaving it without a viable in-house obesity drug.

Metsera’s lead candidate, MET-097i, a GLP-1 therapy designed f

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