CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Cubist Pharmaceutical Inc. here has taken a $1 million minority position in Novalon Pharmaceutical Corp. and will provide the Chapel Hill, N.C., startup with research support, including bioinformatics help. Cubist also gained a six-month option to acquire all outstanding shares of Novalon. An internet search led to the match.
The companies will collaborate in pursuit of antibacterial and antifungal drug leads. "They've got the screening and genomics expertise. We're sitting in the middle with our technology pulling all this together," commented Novalon CEO Dana Fowlkes.