{"id":83344,"date":"2026-06-13T17:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T17:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/83344\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T17:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T17:42:16","slug":"novo-inks-4-7b-akero-buyout-to-bag-late-phase-mash-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/83344\/","title":{"rendered":"Novo inks $4.7B Akero buyout to bag late-phase MASH prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novo Nordisk has\u00a0struck<\/a> a deal to buy Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion, teeing up a showdown with Roche and others in a blockbuster liver disease market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Akero confirmed its status as a key name in the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) space in February, when\u00a0the publication<\/a> of data that an analyst hailed as \u201ctransformational\u201d doubled its share price.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It recently\u00a0emerged<\/a> that Roche responded to the data by stepping up talks with 89bio, one of Akero\u2019s chief rivals. Roche struck its 89bio buyout last month, moving to secure the biotech’s FGF21 analog pegozafermin.<\/p>\n

Now, Novo Nordisk has agreed to buy Akero for about $4.7 billion upfront. At $54 a share, the upfront deal value represents a 19% premium to Akero\u2019s average stock price over the past 30 days. The biotech\u2019s share price climbed as high as $57 in the immediate aftermath of the February data drop.<\/p>\n

Akero shareholders could bag a further $6 a share if efruxifermin (EFX) wins full U.S. regulatory approval for the treatment of compensated cirrhosis due to MASH by mid-2031. The contingent value right could swell the total value of the deal to $5.2 billion.<\/p>\n

The outlay will give Novo another angle of attack on the MASH market. EFX, a FGF21 analog, is in a phase 3 program that is\u00a0scheduled<\/a> to start delivering data in the first half of next year. Akero said Novo\u2019s capabilities in cardio-metabolic disease will accelerate the evaluation of EFX in the phase 3 program.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear when exactly Novo began its pursuit of Akero, but the biotech reportedly received buyout interest<\/a> from an unnamed suitor back in May. Nevertheless, Novo has a new CEO in Mike Doustdar to put his name to the deal. In a statement<\/a>, Doustdar said EFX \u201ccould become a cornerstone therapy, alone or together with Wegovy, to tackle one of the fastest-growing metabolic diseases of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FDA approved Novo’s Wegovy in MASH in August. David Moore, Novo’s executive vice president of U.S. operations, talked up the MASH market on an earnings call shortly before the FDA approval, touting it as a chance to \u201cdifferentiate Wegovy further in terms of that strength of the label\u201d in an indication \u201cthat entire companies have been built upon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novo will face competition for the opportunity. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals\u2019 Rezdiffra is already approved in MASH, and a clutch of companies is giving chase. Roche is set to join the race through its deal to buy 89bio for up to $3.5 billion.<\/p>\n

So far, Madrigal’s Rezdiffra has been off to a strong start since its U.S. launch last April. In the first half of this year, the drug generated $350 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novo Nordisk has\u00a0struck a deal to buy Akero Therapeutics for up to $5.2 billion, teeing up a showdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[124],"tags":[8333,1115,42105,3772,9275,3265,3343,2233,134],"class_list":["post-83344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-roche","tag-akero-therapeutics","tag-biotech","tag-biotech-deals","tag-deals","tag-fierce-biotech-homepage","tag-mash","tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","tag-novo-nordisk","tag-roche"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116744037466501832","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}