Monday, January 26, 2009

Cubist and Forma Therapeutics form a multi-million dollar deal

By Mass High Tech staff

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, and Cambridge-based oncology treatment startup Forma Therapeutics Inc. have entered a three-year collaboration agreement in which Cubist will develop antibacterial compounds discovered by Forma. The deal calls for Forma to receive $14 million in upfront payments, delivery and research funding and equity; If Cubist pursues commercialization of the compounds, the deal could garner Forma another $54 million in milestones and royalties.

The drugs under development could be used to fight methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and gram negative infections.

Forma develops its drugs using an integrated transformative biology and chemistry-based approach. Forma relies on using a cell-based screening platform to permit the screening of discrete targets in cells, along with quantitative genome-proteome-wide profiling and target identification, officials say. It also uses structure-guided drug discovery combined with an integrated chemistry platform.

Earlier this month, Forma signed a deal with Novartis Option Fund worth as much as $200 million.

Cubist has invested in its methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) treatment, Cubicin, for about a decade. 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.