Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was an American

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company that targeted pathogens like

MRSA Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) is a group of gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of ''Staphylococcus aureus''. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. ...

. . The company employed 638 people, mostly in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

. On 8 December 2014, Merck & Co. acquired Cubist for $102 per share in cash ($8.4 billion).

History

Cubist was founded in May 1992 by John K. Clarke, Paul R. Schimmel, Ph.D. and Barry M. Bloom, Ph.D, all of whom were also directors. Cubist appeared on Fortune 2010’s List of fastest growing companies, and was named to the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. In 2011, the company acquired Adolor, maker of a drug for treatment of

constipation Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The Human feces, stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the ...

. The company expected sales of its drug Cubicin to grow to more than 1 billion dollars per year. In July 2013, Cubist Pharmaceuticals agreed to purchase

Trius Therapeutics Trius Therapeutics () was a biopharma company based in San Diego, CA that focused on the development of antibiotics. Business profile The lead compound from Trius, tedizolid phosphate (formerly torezolid phosphate, TR-701), successfully completed ...

and

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc was an American biopharmaceutical company, originally headquartered in San Diego, California, and later moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The company focused on developing specialty drugs to treat gastr ...

for around $1.6 billion. In 2014, succeeding Michael Bonney as President, Robert J. Perez, was announced to take leadership on January 1, 2015. In January 2015 Cubist Pharmaceuticals became a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co.

Products

The company developed Cubicin (

daptomycin Daptomycin, sold under the brand name Cubicin among others, is a lipopeptide antibiotic used in the treatment of systemic and life-threatening infections caused by Gram-positive organisms. Daptomycin was removed from the WHO Model List of Ess ...

) for injection, the first antibiotic in a class of anti-infectives called

lipopeptides A lipopeptide is a molecule consisting of a lipid connected to a peptide. They are able to self-assemble into different structures. Many bacteria produce these molecules as a part of their metabolism, especially those of the genus ''Bacillus'', ...

. In 2011, Cubist settled a patent litigation with

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (also known as Teva Pharmaceuticals) is an Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company. Teva specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include branded-drugs, active pharmaceutical ...

regarding Cubicin. In April 2011 it reached a deal with Optimer Pharmaceuticals in which its class of bacterium-fighting drugs will be co marketed with Optimer's Fidaxomicin/Dificid (for $15 million per year). In 2011, its product pipeline focused on gram-negative bacterial infections, ''

Clostridioides difficile infection ''Clostridioides difficile'' infection (CDI or C-diff), also known as ''Clostridium difficile'' infection, is a symptomatic infection due to the bacterial spores, spore-forming bacterium ''Clostridioides difficile''. Symptoms include watery di ...

, and

respiratory syncytial virus Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derive ...

Tedizolid Tedizolid, sold under the brand name Sivextro (by Merck) is an oxazolidinone-class antibiotic. Tedizolid phosphate is a phosphate ester prodrug of the active compound tedizolid. It was developed by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, following acquisition of ...

was approved by the US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

on June 20, 2014.

References

{{Coord, 42, 25, 25.2, N, 71, 14, 32.9, W, display=title Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Pharmaceutical companies Biotechnology companies of the United States American companies established in 1992 Pharmaceutical companies established in 1992 Life sciences industry Biotechnology companies established in 1992 Biotechnology companies disestablished in 2015 Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2015 1992 establishments in Massachusetts 2015 disestablishments in Massachusetts Defunct pharmaceutical companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts Health care companies based in Massachusetts Companies based in Lexington, Massachusetts 2015 mergers and acquisitions Merck & Co. American corporate subsidiaries