Cytokinetics leaps on heart drug aficamten trial success

Shares in US muscle biology specialist Cytokinetics (Nasdaq: CYTK) soared 70% to $77.34 this morning, as it announced positive results from the much-awaited SEQUOIA trial of its aficamten in patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

The results of SEQUOIA-HCM show that treatment with aficamten significantly improved exercise capacity compared to placebo, increasing peak oxygen uptake (pVO2) measured by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) by a least square mean difference (95% CI) of 1.74 (1.04 - 2.44) mL/kg/min (p=0.000002). The treatment effect with aficamten was consistent across all prespecified subgroups reflective of patient baseline characteristics and treatment strategies, including patients receiving or not receiving background beta-blocker therapy.

Statistically-significant (p<0.0001) and clinically-meaningful improvements were also observed in all 10 prespecified secondary endpoints, including Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score (KCCQ-CSS) at weeks 12 and 24, the proportion of patients with ≥1 class improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class at weeks 12 and 24, change in provoked left ventricular outflow tract gradient (LVOT-G) and proportion <30 mmHg at weeks 12 and 24, as well as exercise workload and guideline-eligibility for septal reduction therapy.