(Reuters) -Pfizer has submitted a sweetened bid for Metsera, an obesity drug developer, as its fight against rival Novo Nordisk escalates, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The new offer improves upon Pfizer's earlier $86.20 a share proposal including milestone payments, the Bloomberg report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the Bloomberg report. Pfizer, Novo Nordisk and Metsera did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Novo raised its offer for the U.S. biotech company on Thursday, just hours after New York-based Pfizer matched the Danish drugmaker's previous $10 billion proposal late on Wednesday. Under the terms of its merger agreement, Pfizer would win even if the companies offered the same amount, and the bidding war could continue with Novo increasing its offer, the Bloomberg report added. The bidding war started privately in January and became public last week, when Novo made an unsolicited offer for Metsera in a challenge to Pfizer’s $7.3 billion agreement, which was unveiled in September. There have been at least 16 separate offers exchanged between the two companies, according to public records. Both companies have a lot at stake in one of this year's most closely watched M&A fights. Novo is trying to recover its once-commanding position in obesity drugs, while Pfizer is attempting to overcome past in-house stumbles in that market. The bidding war centers on Metsera's pipeline of experimental obesity treatments that analysts estimate could be worth several billion dollars a year if they are approved. Some analysts estimate the obesity drug market will hit $150 billion early next decade. The acquisition fight has escalated into a legal and strategic standoff with Novo seeking to wrest Metsera’s obesity drug assets from Pfizer's grip through a complicated deal structure that has drawn scrutiny from regulators. (Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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