14/01/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JAN 14, 2026

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G7, allies aim to reduce reliance on China rare earths

Pfizer CEO: Obesity drugs could mirror Viagra

SAN FRANCISCO: Pfizer is preparing for a consumer market for obesity drugs on par with the booming business it saw after it launched erectile dysfunction drug Viagra in 1998, CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday. Bourla said that even when the drugmaker was negotiating its purchase of weight-loss drugmaker Metsera, initially announced in September 2025, Pfizer did not expect the cash-pay market for obesity drugs currently dominated by Eli Lilly and Co and Novo Nordisk to get so big, so fast. “Both Lilly and Novo presented their sales and had significant sales outside the reimbursement system. Basically, outside the US, we were calculating very limited sales,“ Bourla said, speaking to a group of reporters during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. “Now we see that this operates almost like Viagra, where people were willing to pay and buy it, although it was not reimbursed at all.” Pfizer developed and sold Viagra, which is now sold mostly as a generic drug, for years, but spun off the business that controls the brand in 2020. Pfizer has said it does not expect to return to revenue growth until 2029, as it works to develop new blockbuster drugs, including the obesity treatments it picked up in the US$10 billion (RM41 billion) acquisition of Metsera. The company announced earlier on Monday that it plans to launch 10 different phase 3 studies of obesity compounds from Metsera by the end of the year, including one it launched in November. It bought Metsera for up to US$10 billion after winning a bidding war against Novo. “We are all in on obesity,“ Bourla said.“We invested. We have good expertise in commercial, good expertise in development and good expertise in discovery.” Pfizer has said it expects the next few years to be bumpy, due to the expiration of patents on key drugs, lower sales from its Covid 19 business and price cuts promised to the US government. It was the first major pharmaceutical company to sign a deal with the Trump administration to lower the price of its prescription drugs in the Medicaid program in exchange for three years of tariff relief. Bourla said the government deals, which require drugmakers to offer their new medicines at the same price in the US as overseas, will help firms put pressure on European countries to increase what they will pay for drugs. “Do you reduce the (US) prices to France’s level or stop supplying France? You stop supplying France,“ Bourla said. “So they will stay without new medicines – because the system will force us not to be able to accept the lower prices.” – Reuters

financial institutions, tax and financial incentives, trade and tariff measures, quarantine measures and minimum price setting,“ Katayama said. “I stressed the importance of committing to these measures.” A spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment. The gathering’s participating countries and the EU account for 60% of global demand for critical minerals. But China dominates the supply chain, refining between 47% and 87% of copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency. The minerals are essential for defence tech, semiconductors, renewable energy components, batteries and refining processes. Last week, China banned exports of items destined for Japan’s military that have civilian and military uses, including some critical minerals.

He said rare earths and critical mineral supplies would be a central topic under the French presidency of the Group of Seven advanced economies this year. However, he warned against an anti-China coalition, stressing that Europe needs to move faster on its own to develop supplies of important raw materials. “What is very important to me is that we in Europe do not sit back,“ Klingbeil said. “Neither complaining nor self-pity helps us, we have to become active.” He added that the EU needed more financing at the bloc level, pointing to a new German raw materials fund. The EU must also move forward urgently on recycling, Klingbeil said, citing its “big potential” for reducing dependencies and broadening supply. South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said at the meeting that global value chains should be strengthened based on comparative advantage, emphasising the importance of recycling critical minerals for resilient supply chains, according to a statement from his ministry. – Reuters

o Talks focus on pricing mechanisms and joint ventures to secure alternative mineral supplies

WASHINGTON: Finance ministers from the G7 and other major economies met in Washington on Monday to discuss ways to reduce dependence on rare earths from China, including setting a price floor and new partnerships to build up alternative supplies, ministers said. The meeting, convened by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, included finance ministers from G7 members Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the US as well as officials from Australia, Mexico, South Korea and India. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and representatives from the US Export-Import Bank and JP Morgan also attended, but no joint statement was issued by the meeting’s participants. The Treasury said in a statement that Bessent sought “to discuss solutions to secure and diversify supply chains for critical minerals, especially rare earth elements,“ and PARIS: Airbus deliveries rose 4% last year to reach 793 aircraft, the European planemaker said on Monday, leaving it on course to remain the world’s largest planemaker despite recent industrial snags and a new question mark over engine supplies. Airbus warned of a “continued complex and dynamic operating environment” as it posted deliveries edging past its revised goal of around 790 jets, which had been lowered from 820 last month due to a problem at a Spanish fuselage panels supplier. Airbus said it had won 1,000 gross orders last year, or a net total of 889 after cancellations: both higher than in 2024. Boeing, which is due to issue its own full-year data yesterday, delivered 537 jets up to end November, giving Airbus an unassailable lead in the manufacturing battle. Although Airbus met its recently revised target, it remains 70 planes short of its 2019 peak of 863 annual deliveries. In three out of the last four years Airbus has missed the original delivery target with which it started out the year, though the margin of underperformance has been steadily falling. Analysts say that highlights how Airbus and Boeing, which is gradually restoring its own production after an internal crisis, face a supply chain still weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic that first hit the headlines five years ago. “That illustrates an increasingly complex supply chain that they are not fully on top of,“ independent

expressed optimism that countries would pursue “prudent de-risking over decoupling” from China. A US official said on Sunday that Bessent was going to urge participants to step up efforts to reduce reliance on critical minerals from China, which has imposed strict export controls on rare earths, most recently on supplies to Japan. Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told reporters on Monday evening that there was “broad agreement on the need to swiftly reduce reliance on China for rare earths.” She said she outlined short-, medium- and long-term policy approaches for G7 and like-minded countries to bolster non-Chinese rare earth supplies. “These include creating markets based on standards such as respect for labour conditions and human rights, as well as deploying a range of policy tools – support from public

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said discussions at the meeting included a potential rare earths price floor and partnerships to boost supplies, but noted the talks had just begun with many unresolved issues. Airbus remains No. 1, warns on engine supplies

Airbus deliveries rose 4% to 793 jets last year, but the planemaker warned that late engine supplies could continue to weigh on production. – UNSPLASH PIX

Among new business, Airbus booked several dozen orders from China in December, though these fell short of its earlier hopes of grabbing a huge new order for as many as 500 planes, despite some reports that the mega-deal had already been finalised. Industry sources say Airbus has renewed efforts to close a deal with AirAsia for some 100 A220s, possibly as early as this month. Scherer said “watch this space” without elaborating. Even so, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury has conceded likely defeat on new orders after a wave of Boeing deals coinciding partly with foreign tours by US President Donald Trump. – Reuters

volume of supplies that it needs “for the foreseeable future,“ Scherer said. Industry sources said such details would typically be worked out at least a year ahead. Pratt & Whitney parent RTX, one of two suppliers on Airbus’ best-selling series, had no immediate comment. Deliveries are closely watched since that is the point when planemakers generate most of their cash. Last year’s handovers included 607 of Airbus’ A320neo cash cow, up 1%. Wide-body deliveries also rose 1% led by the A330, though those of the flagship A350 – hit by separate delays in receiving fuselage sections – were flat at 57 jets. The smallest model, A220, rose 24% to 93 deliveries.

aviation analyst Rob Morris said. Outgoing Airbus planemaking CEO Christian Scherer stressed deliveries remained on an upward trajectory and underlying demand was strong. “The overall situation is much brighter now with a great deal less bottlenecks,“ he told reporters. However, he noted that jet engines for the A320neo family continued to arrive “very, very late” in 2025. “We see that this trend continues in 2026 and in particular with Pratt & Whitney, with whom we are still in discussions,“ he said. “It is an issue that we need to resolve.” Airbus has yet to reach agreement with the US manufacturer over the