On Wednesday, Cytokinetics (CYTK.O) announced the success of its experimental heart disease drug in a highly anticipated late-stage study, positioning it as a competitor to Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMY.N) rival treatment.
Analysts hailed the data as a “home run,” noting that the safety and efficacy of the treatment, aficamten, were favorable compared to Bristol’s Camzyos.
Cytokinetics’ shares, based in San Francisco, soared over 80%, reaching a more than 19-year high of $83.82 and potentially adding up to $3.74 billion to its market cap.
The company’s success and the study results are now closely intertwined, according to Oppenheimer analyst Justin Kim, who suggested that it could generate approximately $2 billion in peak U.S. sales.
CEO Robert Blum emphasized that the data met the “high expectations” set before the announcement, with plans to seek marketing approval for the drug in the United States and Europe in the second half of 2024. The drug targets obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where heart muscles stiffen, potentially leading to cardiac arrest.
Aficamten demonstrated significant improvements in patients’ exercise capacity, the primary goal of the study, compared to a placebo after 24 weeks of treatment. Peak oxygen capacity, measured in milliliters per minute per kilogram of body weight, showed an average improvement of 1.74 points, surpassing the 1.4 point improvement seen in Bristol’s drug study.
Several analysts suggested that the data indicates aficamten’s “best-in-class” potential and could attract buyout interest in Cytokinetics. The company has reportedly drawn interest from at least one major drugmaker, and additional bidders may have been awaiting the study data, as reported by Bloomberg in October.
Notably, treatment with aficamten was not interrupted in the study, despite lower levels of the heart’s ability to pump blood from the left ventricle.
