Antibiotic specialist Cubist Pharmaceuticals has announced that CEO Michael Bonney will step down from his position at the end of this year to be replaced by Robert Perez (pictured right).
Bonney, who will take over as chair of the company’s board of directors, has led Cubist since 2003 having joined the company a year earlier as chief operating officer. He previously spent six years at Biogen Idec in various positions.
With Bonney as CEO Cubist has emerged as one of the leading players in antibiotic research, a field that has been neglected by larger pharma companies but is now a growing area as the world recognises the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Cubist’s ambitions have been seen with a number of drug launches as well as its recent expansion into Europe with a new office in Zurich.
“Under Mike Bonney’s leadership, Cubist made the extraordinarily rare transition from struggling startup to global biotechnology leader with outstanding future growth potential,” said Kenneth Bate, chair of the board of directors. Bate will become lead independent director when Bonney becomes chair.
This growth will now be lead by Perez, who knows Cubist well having spent 11 years at the company. He has been in his current position of chief operating officer since 2007 and was also named president in 2012.
He said: “I am confident that we will drive excellence in the research, development and commercialisation of life-saving therapies that will benefit physicians and patients around the world.”
Like Bonney, Perez also spent time at Biogen Idec, serving as VP of the company’s central nervous system operations in the US. He also worked at Zeneca prior to the company’s merger with Astra to become AstraZeneca.