Shares of the little biotech firm Cytokinetics jumped by as much as 60% Monday morning, on the results from a study of the firm’s investigational drug for heart failure.
The data suggest that Cytokinetics (ticker: CYTK) drug could become a potent rival to a similar investigational drug that Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) acquired last year, for $13 billion in cash.
At midday, Cytokinetics stock was up 41%, at $27, while the overall market was weak. That valued the drug developer at $2 billion, after the top-line results of a Phase 2 study of a drug called CK-274 showed sharp improvements among patients suffering from an inherited form of heart failure. “These results are solid and augur well for our next-in-class objectives for CK-274,” said Cytokinetics CEO Robert Blum, on conference call before Monday’s market opening.
The study enrolled 60 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a congenital disease that makes the heart’s muscles contract so sharply that they start weakening at an early age. Among the two-thirds who got the drug instead of a placebo, 79% of those on a lower dose reached the targeted improvements in pressure levels in their hearts, while 93% on a higher dose reached those targets. Both results were statistically significant. The drug effects were quick, safe, and easily reversible, said Cytokinetics.
Blum told listeners that the company will meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in hopes of starting a Phase 3 trial of CK-274 before year’s end.
The Cytokinetics drug belongs to a class that modify cardiac myosin, the motor protein that makes hearts contract. CK-274 inhibits the excessive contractions seen in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which affects as many as 200,000 people in the U.S. and Europe. Bristol Myers Squibb has applied for approval from the FDA of a myosin inhibitor that it got with the $13 billion acquisition of MyoKardia in 2020. The Phase 3 of Bristol’s mavacamten had different endpoints than Cytokinetics’ Phase 2 trial, and Blum declined to compare the drugs in Monday’s call.
In a July 13 research note, however, Mizuho Securities analyst Salim Syed noted that the closest measure in Bristol’s study showed that between 57% and 74% of patients treated with its drug achieved improvements similar to those that Cytokinetics reported for 93% of those on a higher dose of CK-274. At the time, Syed rated Cytokinetics stock a Buy, with a $36 price target, projecting that the yet-unprofitable drug developer could have earnings above $2.50 a share by 2026.
Comparing CK-274 to the Bristol treatment using another measure, a Monday afternoon note by H.C. Wainright analyst Joseph Pantginis says that the Cytokinetics treatment achieved the desired outcome in 85% of treated patients, compared with 53% in Bristol’s trial.
Pantginis raised his price target for Cytokinetics stock to $53 from $41, based on his projection that sales of CK-274 could approach $1 billion, on top of the revenue he expects from another myosin drug of Cytokinetics that’s even further advanced. A Phase 3 trial of its investigational treatment omecamtiv showed strong benefits among patients with severe cases of heart failure, and the Wainright analyst expects the company to file its application for the approval of omecamtiv later this year.
Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com
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July 20, 2021 at 01:29AM
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Cytokinetics Stock Is Surging. Heart-Drug Results Are Exciting Investors. - Barron's
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