5/16/2000

Cubist Pharmaceuticals' trio of strategic partnerships plus solid results from daptomycin, its antibiotic to treat hospital bacterial infections, helped fuel a stock price that soared more than thirteenfold from March 31, 1999, to March 31, 2000.

Scott M. Rocklage, chairman and chief executive of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, which has about 90 employees. (Globe Staff Photo / Matthew J. Lee) The Bulls 1. NetOptix 2. Natural Microsystems Corp. 3. Interleaf Inc. 4. Cubist Pharmaceuticals 5. Seachange International [ See complete chart ] The Bears 1. J. Jill Group 2. Raytheon Co. 3. Mac-Gray Corp. 4. Lifeline Systems Inc. 5. RoweCom Inc. [ See complete chart ]

The seven year-old biotechnology firm has seen its stock climb from $7.8125 in November to an all-time high of $68.0625 on March 1, before trailing down to $41.1875 by March 31.

Last year, the Cambridge company raised additional capital for Phase III clinical trials for daptomycin, a drug designed to treat bacteremia, a serious bloodstream infection, plus difficult skin and soft tissue infections and complicated urinary tract infections.

Separately, Cubist signed an agreement in February 1999 to provide Novartis Pharma AG. with its proprietary technology to create new anti-infective drugs. Previously, Cubist had forged similar arrangements with Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

''I think Wall Street saw the Novartis deal and our Phase II data on daptomycin, and gave us a different value as a company with a drug pipeline and technology,'' said Scott M. Rocklage, chairman and chief executive of Cubist, which employs 90 people in Massachusetts.

Cubist, which raised additional cash last year followed by an $80 million secondary stock offering last month, hopes to complete its Phase III testing of daptomycin next year. It will then seek Food and Drug Administration approval, said Rocklage, with a goal of launching the drug in early 2002.

''Since 75 percent of the sales will probably go to 1,200 US hospitals, we think we can market the drug with a small sales force,'' he said.

RONALD ROSENBERG