Muscle Activators That Might Treat SMA at Forefront of Company’s 5-Year Plan

Cytokinetics Inc. has presented its Vision 2020: Empowering Our Future — an initiative designed to expand the company’s drug pipeline and advance its muscle biology-directed drug candidates toward late-stage development and marketing strategies. The biopharmaceutical company specializes in first-in-class muscle activators for people with impaired muscle function, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients.

The main strategic initiatives of Vision 2020 are:

• Advancing privately owned research programs that target muscle contractility, and the development of new products under new alliances;
• Progressing next generation skeletal and cardiac muscle activator drugs into clinical development through leverage with current research partnerships;
• Conducting late-stage clinical development of new, first-in-class muscle activator compounds as treatment options for spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), heart failure, and other conditions that involve debilitating muscle function;
• Collaborating with patient communities to support the development of new drugs for diseases of impaired muscle function;
• Fine-tuning company operations to advance the development and commercialization of muscle biology drug candidates across Europe and North America.

Throughout 2016, the company expects to:

• Complete patient enrollment of VITALITY-ALS, Cytokinetics’ ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of tirasemtiv in people with ALS;
• Complete enrollment in the recently initiated Phase 2 clinical trial of CK-2127107 in people with SMA, a collaboration with Astellas;
• Advance, upon regulatory acceptance, omecamtiv mecarbil into Phase 3 clinical development as a potential treatment for heart failure, a trial run in collabortion with Amgen.

“We are entering a transformative phase for the company and our shareholders and Vision 2020 provides the road map to focus our team on our near- and long-term opportunities,” Robert I. Blum, Cytokinetics’ president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.  “We believe our proprietary insights into the mechanics of muscle contractility and performance can translate over the next five years into advanced medicines that may provide meaningful contributions to the treatment of some of the most devastating diseases impacting patients’ lives. Our commitment to maintaining a diverse portfolio of drug candidates, while investing in a world-class research and discovery operation sets us apart and will afford us key advantages to achieve Vision 2020.”