Friday, October 17, 2008

Cubist nearly doubles quarterly revenue in a year

By Mass High Tech Staff

Lexington-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported a 45 percent jump in third quarter 2008 revenue over the same period last year. Cubist (Nasdaq:CBST) had $76.3 million in Q3 2007 compared with $110.6 million in 2008. The company’s antibiotic drug Cubicin (daptomycin for injection) brought in $109.2 million for the quarter, with the remaining net revenue of $1.4 million stemmed from Cubist’s exclusive agreement with AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN) to commercialize the pharmaceutical giant’s broad spectrum antibiotic Merrem (meropenem for injection) in the U.S. Merrem I.V. is an antibiotic used to combat skin infections, pediatric bacterial meningitis, appendicitis and peritonitis. Terms of performance incentives were not disclosed in the agreement.

In 2008’s Q3, the company had a net income of $27.9 million as compared to $20.0 million in 2007, an increase of 40 percent.

Cubicin had sales of $277.7 million for the full year in 2007, up from $272.9 million the previous year, according to figures from market research firm IMS Health Inc., of Norwalk, Conn. For 2007, Cubist reported full year net income of $48 million on revenue of $294.6 million.

In September, Cubist opened a 35,000-square-foot research facility at the company’s headquarters in Lexington. The facility, constructed of environmentally friendly materials, adds enough lab space to fit an additional 100 people, officials said.