HQ Team
March 12, 2025: Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has entered into an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement with Denmark’s Zealand Pharma to co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide, a promising obesity treatment candidate. The deal, potentially valued at up to $5.3 billion, marks a significant move by Roche to strengthen its position in the rapidly expanding weight-loss market, currently dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Financial Terms
Zealand Pharma will receive an initial payment of $1.65 billion, with the potential for additional milestone payments that could raise the total to $5.3 billion. These payments are contingent upon the success of phase 3 trials and subsequent sales performance. Zealand will get USD 1.4 billion upon closing and USD 250 million over the first two years of the collaboration. Zealand Pharma is also eligible for development milestones of USD 1.2 billion primarily linked to initiation of Phase 3 trials with petrelintide monotherapy and sales-based milestones of USD 2.4 billion.
Petrelintide is a long-acting amylin analog, that mimics the hormone amylin released alongside insulin. It is currently in mid-stage trials for overweight or obese individuals without type 2 diabetes.
Roche and Zealand will jointly market petrelintide in the U.S. and Europe, while Roche will hold exclusive commercialization rights for the rest of the world. Profits and losses from the sales of petrelintide, including a fixed-dose combination with Roche’s CT-388, will be shared equally in the U.S. and Europe.
CT-388 has shown effectiveness in early trials but had high rates of gastrointestinal side effects; combining it with amylin could allow a more potent weight loss effect, allowing lower, safer doses.
The announcement led to a significant surge in Zealand Pharma’s stock, which rose by 45% before easing to a 28% increase. Roche’s shares also saw a notable gain of 5.5%.
Strategic significance
This partnership reflects Roche’s ambition to become a major player in the obesity treatment sector. Roche has been expanding its portfolio in cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases, and the addition of petrelintide aligns with this strategy. The deal is seen as a strategic move to compete with market leaders like Novo Nordisk, which has been focusing on GLP-1 agonists and is exploring dual-action drugs, including amylin.
The collaboration aims to develop petrelintide as a foundational therapy for obesity, addressing unmet medical needs by offering a different mechanism of action compared to GLP-1 drugs. Petrelintide is believed to preserve better lean mass, a key advantage over existing treatments. Roche and Zealand plan to launch the product by 2030, pending successful clinical trials.
On Zealand’s side, the collaboration is strictly on petrelintide—its other obesity candidates, such as the GLP-1/GLP-2 drug dapiglutide, are not involved. But other injected Roche assets might be used in future combinations, according to company executives.
Roche’s weight loss portfolio started with the $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot. Roche has another GLP-1/GIP agonist, CT-868, and a pill called CT-996.
The deal is expected to finalize in the second quarter of 2025.
