Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has appointed Robert J. Perez to the newly created position of senior vice president, sales & marketing. Cubist is currently awaiting action on the New Drug Application (NDA) for its investigational antibiotic Cidecin (daptomycin for injection) by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Cubist also announced that it has now hired 70 of the 75 sales representatives planned for the launch of Cidecin in the U.S., should it receive marketing clearance.

In this new role, Perez will lead Cubist's efforts to commercialize its products. He comes to Cubist from Biogen, Inc., where he had served as vice president of Biogen's CNS Business Unit since 2001 and was responsible for leading the U.S. neurology franchise, including Biogen's flagship product Avonex, along with customer support, medical affairs, reimbursement and training. From 1995 to 2001, he served as a regional director, director of sales, and Avonex Commercial Executive at Biogen. From 1987 to 1995, Perez held various sales and marketing positions at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, ultimately serving as regional business manager, responsible for strategic planning and profitability of a key business unit and managing both national and regional sales managers. Perez received a BS from California State University, Los Angeles and an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.

Michael W. Bonney, Cubist's president & chief executive officer said, "We are very pleased to have Rob joining the senior management team at Cubist at this exciting time in the company's history. We believe his operational, managerial and strategic planning experience will prove invaluable as we prepare for the anticipated November launch of Cidecin, pending approval.

With Rob's hiring, along with the vast majority of our sales representatives, we are now looking forward to transitioning from our recruiting and planning phase to the implementation phase of our commercialization efforts."