US biopharma firm Cubist to buy pharma firms Trius, Optimer in $1.60-bn deal

US biopharmaceutical firm Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc yesterday said that it will buy Trius Therapeutics Inc and Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc, in a deal that could be worth up to $1.60 billion in order to expand its antibiotics portfolio.

The Massachusetts-based company will pay Optimer shareholders $10.75 per share in cash, or approximately $535 million. The transaction value could go up to $801 million on meeting certain sales targets.

Optimer, based in New Jersey, received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in May 2011 for Dificid, the first antibacterial drug approved in more than 25 years to treat Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) in adults 18 years of age or older.

In April 2011, Cubist and Optimer entered into a two-year agreement under which Cubist has been co-promoting the drug.

Disease-causing C. difficile bacterium infect the large bowel where they thrive and proliferate when the beneficial bacteria that guard against infections have been wiped out due to antibiotics. C. difficile release toxins that damage the cells lining the intestinal wall, causing diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and fever, and other symptoms.

These bacterium abound on the surface of bedside tables, door knobs, counters, lavatories, and sinks in the hospital  and spread between patients from contact with contaminans.

C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe, more difficult to treat, and more likely to recur after initial treatment.

The CDAD market is large, with over 700,000 cases annually in the US alone and a high recurrence rate at 20-30 per cent. Cubist said that hospitalisation due to CDAD infections increased four-fold from 1993 to 2009.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease is estimated to be responsible for approximately 14,000 deaths every year in the US.

In the second deal, Cubist will pay Trius shareholders $13.50 per share in cash or approximately $707 million, and an additional cash payment of up to $2 per share on achieving certain sales milestones, taking the total transaction value up to $818 million.

Trius will bring to Cubist a late-stage antibiotic drug, tedizolid phosphate (TR-701), as well as several pre-clinical antibiotic programs.

Tedizolid phosphate is an IV and orally administered drug for treating certain Gram-positive infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

California-based Trius has partnered with Bayer Pharma AG for the developing and commercialising tedizolid phosphate outside of the US, Canada and the European Union.

Trius will file for a New Drug Application for tedizolid phosphate seeking approval for an indication in ABSSSI to the FDA during the second half of 2013 and a Marketing Authorization Application will be submitted to the European Medicines Agency in the first half of 2014.

''Trius is a tremendous strategic fit with Cubist that supports our Building Blocks of Growth long-range goals while extending our global leadership in the acute care environment,'' said Bonney.

Both deals are expected to generate between $600 million to $1 billion in revenue annually.