Cytokinetics Heart Drug Succeeds in Trial

Cytokinetics Inc. said its experimental drug helped patients with a genetic heart ailment in a closely watched trial.

The drug improved exercise capacity and oxygen uptake in patients with the heart condition, compared with those getting a placebo, Cytokinetics said Wednesday in a statement. Months before the results were released, the South San Francisco-based company had already attracted interest from at least one major drugmaker, Bloomberg reported in October.

The shares rose as much as 83% at the New York market open, the most intraday since they began trading in 2004. Cytokinetics had a market value of more than $4.4 billion before the surge, and there has been a wave of acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals industry in recent months.

Aficamten is a once-daily pill for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, a genetic disease in which abnormally thick heart muscle interferes with pumping. As many as 1 in 500 people have it, though many go undiagnosed, according to the American Heart Association, and it’s regarded as the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and competitive athletes.

Cytokinetics plans to submit the drug for clearance in the second half of 2024, Chief Executive Officer Robert Blum said on a conference call. Peak sales could hit $3 billion by 2035, analysts from Leerink Partners said in a note before the data was released. Full results from the study will be presented at an upcoming medical conference, Cytokinetics said.

If approved by US regulators, the drug would compete with Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s Camzyos, which was cleared last year as a treatment for obstructive HCM. In this form of the disease, the most common, abnormally thick muscle inhibits blood flow from the heart to the aorta.

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