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Lexington’s Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. has signed an exclusive two-year co-promotion agreement worth up to $47.5 million with Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the marketing of a drug to fight an infection-based diarrhea.
San Diego-based Optimer will handle the manufacturing and distributing of the drug Dificid in the United States. The drug is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea. The deal calls for Optimer and Cubist (Nasdaq: CBST) to co-promote Dificid in the U.S.
Once the drug is approved by the FDA – Optimer’s responsibility – Optimer will pay Cubist $15 million per year over the two years following the first sale of Dificid. If sales targets are met, Cubist could get an additional $5 million in that first following year and $12.5 million in the second. In addition, Cubist could get a piece of the gross profits from any sales beyond those targets.
According to Cubist in a press release, the company expects the FDA to make a decision about approval of Dificid by the end of May. The FDA’s Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously on April 5 to recommend approval of the drug to treat Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea.
This week, Cubist settled a patent case by entering into a license agreement for its Cubicin (daptomycin) antibiotic treatment with Teva of Israel, which in turn has agreed Cubist’s patents on the drug are valid and enforceable.
In October 2010, Cubist raised $250 million in aggregate principal amount through an offering of its convertible senior notes due 2017.
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