Novo will pay Hong Kong-based United Laboratories $200 million upfront for the drug, which combines three different mechanisms in an effort to treat obesity as well as diabetes and other diseases, the companies said Monday.

Novo Nordisk agreed to pay up to $2 billion for the rights to a developmental weight-loss and obesity drug from Chinese pharmaceutical company The United Bio-Technology Co., as it looks to boost its pipeline of next-generation drugs.

Novo Nordisk’s hopes of heralding a new era of obesity treatment with its next-generation CagriSema drug may be in doubt after a series of trial results have left investors feeling unsatisfied.