Shares of a San Francisco-based biotech are up 40% year to date, but analysts think the stock is trading at only about half its 12-month estimated high of $30 and rate it a buy, according to CNN Money.
Twenty-three-year-old Cytokinetics Inc. (CYTK, Financial) uses its proprietary platform to develop therapies for cardiac and skeletal muscle diseases. The company is conducting clinical trials for a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as for limited mobility. We’ll know more about how Cytokinetics is faring so far this year when it reports first-quarter results on May 6. The Street expects the company to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on lower revenue for the three months ended March 31, according to Zacks.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Charles Duncan thinks Cytokinetics has plenty of upside, according to an article in TipRanks. He said the phase 3 study of the drug omecamtiv mecarbil in heart failure could be a potentially “transformational” opportunity for the the company, with results possibly coming in earlier than expected this year.
In a January article in The Journal of Invasive Cardiology, Robert I. Blum, president and CEO, shared his 2025 vision for Cytokinetics and talked about the milestones the company hoped to achieve this year.
Among Blum’s key imperatives for Vision 2025 include:
- Achieve regulatory approvals for at least two pipeline drugs.
- Build commercial capabilities to market and sell company medicines.
- Generate sustainable and growing revenues from product sales.
- Double the development pipeline to include 10 therapeutic programs.
- Expand the discovery platform to muscle energetics, growth and metabolism.
The global spinal muscular atrophy treatment market is forecast to reach nearly $15 billion by 2026, growing at a compound rate of nearly 30%. The increasing incidence of rare diseases will increase market demand going forward, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights.
Others competing in the market include Biogen (BIIB, Financial), Novartis (NVS, Financial), Roche (RHHBY, Financial) Astellas Pharma (ALPMY, Financial) and Genzyme Corp.
Cytokinetics is collaborating with Astellas Pharma to develop reldesemtiv, a fast skeletal muscle troponin activator. Astellas currently holds an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize reldesemtiv. The company’s other partner, Amgen Inc. (AMGN, Financial), holds an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize omecamtiv mecarbil with a sublicense held by Servier for commercialization in Europe and certain other countries. The licenses held by Amgen and Astellas are subject to specified co-development and co-commercialization rights of Cytokinetics.
Disclosure: The author holds a position in Amgen.
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