Expert Financial Analysis and Reporting

Terms and Implications of This Deal Cytokinetics announced that it had concluded a deal to sell a portion of the future royalty stream on omecamtiv to Royalty Partners, perhaps the leading purveyor of this type of financial instrument. Omecamtiv is partnered with Amgen and recently entered the phase 3 GALACTIC HF trial which will enroll […]

Key Points Results from the COSMIC HF phase 2 trial of omecamtiv mecarbil support the hypothesis that it improves heart function and (very importantly) reverses structural damage in patients with heart failure. Side effects are comparable to placebo. If these results are replicated in the GALACTIC-HF phase 3 trial, I believe that omecamtiv mecarbil has […]

Investment Thesis Cytokinetics looks to me to be seriously undervalued when I contrast its market value (stock price multiplied by shares outstanding) of $430 million to that of other early stage biotechnology companies. In this note I look at key investment attributes of CYTK in comparison to those of a number of other biotechnology companies […]

Amgen issued a press release today in which it announced that Servier had decided to exercise its option to commercialize omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure in Europe, Russia and certain other territories. The companies announced that the Phase 3 program of omecamtiv mecarbil will move forward in collaboration with Cytokinetics. I think that the gating […]

Cytokinetics has announced that the VITALITY-ALS trial of tirasemtiv has completed enrollment. The study includes three phases. The first is a two week open label phase; those patients who can tolerate tirasemtiv are then randomized into the second phase. This is a 48 week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which patients are randomized 3:2:2:2 to placebo […]

Overview of Expanded Collaboration Cytokinetics and Astellas announced on July 27th that they had expanded their collaboration for the development of products based on skeletal muscle activation. Cytokinetics has pioneered this very promising field and I believe has a commanding edge in the understanding of drug development based on this biology. The expansion has two […]

Overview of COPD Cytokinetics announced today that it is beginning a phase 2 trial of CK-2127107 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The trial is being conducted by CYTK’s partner Astellas. COPD usually is caused by long time smoking and has two main forms: (1) chronic bronchitis, which is characterized by a long-term cough with […]

Purpose of This Report I have written frequently about omecamtiv mecarbil, Cytokinetics’ extremely promising new drug for congestive heart failure (CHF). I believe that it has the potential to be a therapeutic breakthrough for CHF which can significantly reduce mortality and morbidity. I see it as an add-on therapy to current standard of care drugs […]

Introduction If you read my note of yesterday, there can be no question that Amgen views omecamtiv mecarbil as a major breakthrough for the treatment of congestive heart failure if phase 2 data can be replicated in phase 3 trials. That note was based on a presentation by Cytokinetics at the Cowen conference on Monday […]

Introduction The Cowen conference in Boston is going on this week. I consider Cowen to have the best and broadest coverage of biotechnology on Wall Street. I am listening to webcasts from numerous companies this week at their annual healthcare conference. Cytokinetics presented on Monday March 8 and then Amgen held a dinner for investors […]