Illumigen bought by Cubist PharmaceuticalsPuget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

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Illumigen bought by Cubist Pharmaceuticals

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Massachusetts is buying Illumigen Biosciences Inc. in a deal that could be worth more than $340 million.

The deal, originally announced in October, will see Lexington, Mass.-based Cubist (NASDAQ: CBST) pay Illumigen stockholders $9 million up front. Seattle-based Illumigen's lead compound, IB657, is a protein therapeutic in late-stage preclinical development as an interferon replacement product for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections.

Cubist will pay up to $75.5 million in HCV development and regulatory milestones. If Cubist develops an Illumigen product for the treatment of viral infections other than HCV, additional development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $117 million would apply, and if Illumigen products are commercialized, sales milestones of up to $140 million as well as royalties would apply.

"We believe that Cubist is ideally positioned to exploit the immediate opportunity for IB657 against HCV, and potentially for additional viral infections," said Elmer, Illumigen chairman, in a statement.

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