Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Cubist's $190M-upfront acquisition of Adolor delivered a partially-achieved bust: marketed drug Entereg grew to $43.8M in nine months of 2014 but never clearly hit the ~$100M peak-sales target, while the pipeline bet ADL5945 was never approved as rival PAMORAs beat it to market—Cubist itself was absorbed by Merck in 2015, reducing the deal to a footnote.
$4.25/share cash plus CPRs of up to $4.50/share contingent on ADL5945 FDA/EMA approval by July 2019 and competitive labeling — the structure transferred…
Industry observers said the deal could stimulate broader interest in OIC, and that Cubist's hospital sales force was well-suited to commercialize Entereg into…
By 2014 Entereg US revenue had grown 17.6% YoY to $43.8M through nine months, and the asset was a contributing piece of Merck's $9.5B Cubist acquisition that…
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Cubist acquired Adolor for $4.25/share (~$190M cash) plus CPRs of up to $4.50/share tied to ADL5945 milestones, total up to $415M. Deal added marketed Entereg and a Phase 2 OIC candidate to Cubist's hospital franchise.
Assessment window: 5yr post-close.
2.7M US cases/yr · $1.5B US POI hospital cost burden annually · >$100M Cubist projected peak Entereg US sales
Postoperative ileus is the temporary cessation of coordinated bowel motility after abdominal surgery, delaying GI recovery, prolonging hospital stay, and adding $8,000–9,000 per patient in cost. Opioid-induced constipation is a chronic complication of opioid analgesia in cancer pain and non-cancer chronic pain populations, driven by mu-opioid receptor agonism in the enteric nervous system.
Cubist's acquisition of Adolor combined a marketed hospital asset with a clinical-stage chronic-care candidate. Entereg (alvimopan) was the first and only FDA-approved peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) for accelerated GI recovery after partial bowel resection, with a REMS due to cardiovascular signal in chronic OIC trials. In OIC, ADL5945 was positioned to compete against Salix's Relistor (methylnaltrexone, originally Progenics/Wyeth), Takeda/Sucampo's Amitiza (lubiprostone, ClC-2 activator), and Astellas/AstraZeneca's Movantik (naloxegol). Each had differentiated trial populations — Relistor in advanced illness, Movantik in non-cancer chronic pain — leaving room for a once-daily oral PAMORA. Cubist projected peak Entereg sales above $100M and saw the deal as fitting its hospital franchise alongside Cubicin (daptomycin). However, in November 2012 Cubist discontinued ADL5945 development after Phase 3 trials missed key endpoints, eliminating the bulk of the CPR upside. The transaction nonetheless reinforced the pivot of Cubist toward hospital acute-care that Merck later acquired for $9.5B in 2015.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. / Adolor Corporation (this deal) | 2011 | $415M | 49 |
| Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. / Calixa Therapeutics, Inc. | 2009 | $402M | 52 |
| Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. / Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2013 | $801M | 45 |
| Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. / Trius Therapeutics Inc. | 2013 | $707M | 44 |
| UCB SA / Celltech Group plc | 2004 | $2.7B | 92 |
| Johnson & Johnson / Centocor Inc. | 1999 | $4.9B | 92 |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. / Millennium Pharmaceuticals | 2003 | $8.8B | 82 |
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More: 2011 deals · Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. deals · Gastroenterology deals