Friday, January 23, 2009

Cubist revenue up 50 percent in fourth quarter

By Mass High Tech staff

Amidst a troubled economy in the fourth quarter of 2008, Lexington-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. reports an increase of more than 50 percent for its fourth-quarter total net revenue in 2008 over 2007. The biopharmaceutical firm attributed the increase to a 43 percent growth in fourth-quarter 2008 sales of Cubicin, a treatment for staph infections of the skin and blood.

Cubist’s fourth-quarter total net revenues amounted to $131.2 million in 2008; Its fourth-quarter revenues hit $85.6 million in 2007, by comparison. Year-over-year total net revenue also increased by 47 percent from 2007 to 2008. The 2008 year-end total net revenue, $433.6 million, includes $9.4 million stemming from a deal Cubist has to sell and promote AstraZeneca PLC’s broad spectrum antibiotic Merrem I.V. in the U.S. The deal, which went into effect July 1, guarantees $20 million annually to Cubist.

Growth of the company’s methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) treatment, Cubicin, has consumed about a decade of Cubist’s resources. In 1997, Cubist (Nasdaq: CBST) acquired rights to Cubicin from Eli Lilly & Co. and won FDA approval in 2003. Getting it to market cost a half-billion dollars and Cubist just turned a profit two years ago. By the end of 2008, the company spent about $800 million on the testing and development of Cubicin.