Pfizer PFE has committed significant resources toward the development of treatments in the fields of oncology, metabolic disease and vaccines. It is also scaling artificial intelligence across R&D and manufacturing to improve productivity and accelerate innovation.
Last year, Pfizer invested around $9 billion in M&A deals, including the acquisition of Metsera and the licensing deal with 3SBio to boost its pipeline in obesity and oncology.
Pfizer plans to start 20 pivotal studies in 2026, including 10 pivotal studies for the ultra-long-acting injectable GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) called PF-08653944, now known as berobenatide, added from the Metsera acquisition, and four for PF-08634404, a dual PD-1/VEGF inhibitor in-licensed from Chinese biotech 3SBio in 2025.
Pfizer expects 2026 to be a catalyst-rich year, with some key data readouts expected in the obesity and oncology programs.
Let’s break it down.
PFE’s Strengthening Obesity Pipeline
The November 2025 acquisition of obesity drugmaker Metsera added four novel clinical-stage incretin and amylin programs, which are expected to generate billions of dollars in peak sales if successfully developed and commercialized.
A key candidate added from the Metsera deal is berobenatide, being developed in phase III to treat adults with obesity or overweight without type II diabetes.
The currently available and highly popular weight loss GLP therapies, Eli Lilly’s LLY Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s NVO Wegovy, are weekly injections. On the other hand, Pfizer’s berobenatide starts off as a weekly injection and then switches to a monthly injection. Berobenatide is designed for monthly maintenance dosing.
In the phase IIb VESPER-3 study, berobenatide achieved up to 12.3% placebo-adjusted weight loss at 28 weeks, with patients continuing to lose weight even after transitioning from weekly to monthly dosing. Pfizer is also studying berobenatide in combination with an amylin-based therapy, PF'3945, for obesity. Several late-stage studies are planned or underway for this candidate, which is considered one of Pfizer's top pipeline catalysts for 2026.
Last year, Pfizer in-licensed exclusive global rights to develop YP05002, an oral small molecule GLP-1 RA for treating obesity from Chinese biotech YaoPharma. With the Metsera acquisition, the YaoPharma deal and other Pfizer programs that include an oral GIPR antagonist candidate, Pfizer believes it has a robust and diverse obesity portfolio that includes candidates with diverse modalities and mechanisms.
In 2026, Pfizer plans to advance 20-plus obesity studies, including 10 phase III studies of berobenatide that span obesity and obesity associated comorbidities. Pfizer is targeting the first of a series of potential approvals for berobenatide in 2028.
PFE’s Strong Oncology Pipeline
Pfizer is also advancing its oncology clinical pipeline across areas such as breast, thoracic, gastrointestinal and blood cancer. Several oncology candidates have entered late-stage development. Key oncology candidates in late-stage development include atirmociclib (a CDK4 inhibitor for first-line HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer) and sigvotatug vedotin (an antibody-drug-conjugate or ADC for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer). Sasanlimab for the treatment of BCG-naive high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer is under review.
Last year, Pfizer in-licensed exclusive global ex-China rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize PF-08634404, a dual PD-1 and VEGF inhibitor, from China’s 3SBio. Dual PD-1/VEGF inhibitors have been designed to overcome the limitations of single-target cancer therapies like Merck’s MRK blockbuster PD-L1 inhibitor, Keytruda, and have the potential to become the new standard of care oncology treatments. Large global phase III studies are currently ongoing in first-line metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Pfizer is also working on expanding the labels of approved cancer products like Padcev, Tuksya and Elrexfio, among others.
Conclusion
2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Pfizer's R&D pipeline. The company is targeting approximately 20 pivotal study starts, eight key clinical data readouts and four regulatory decisions, with a significant portion of these milestones concentrated in obesity and oncology. Success in these programs could help Pfizer build new multibillion-dollar franchises and reduce its dependence on aging products facing patent expirations later this decade.
PFE’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Pfizer stock has risen 2.9% so far this year compared with an increase of 2.6% for the industry.
From a valuation standpoint, Pfizer appears attractive relative to the industry and is trading below its five-year mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, Pfizer’s shares currently trade at 8.73 forward earnings, significantly lower than 17.43 for the industry as well as the stock’s five-year mean of 9.64.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share has risen from $2.98 to $2.99, while that for 2027 has risen from $2.82 to $2.86 over the past 30 days.
Pfizer has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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