Bristol Myers Squibb’s first in class drug mavacamten (brand name Camzyos) has been approved by Health Canada for the treatment of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Tag: Bristol Myers Squibb
Longer Term Results for Mavacamten
The VALOR-HCM trial was a Phase 3 clinical trial which compared the Bristol Myers Squibb drug mavacamten (brand name Camzyos) to septal reduction therapy (myectomy and septal alcohol ablation) over a 16 week period. At the end of the 16 week period, the patients originally randomized to the placebo were prescribed mavacamten, while those originally prescribed mavacamten continued taking the drug for an additional 16 weeks for a total of 32 weeks
At last weekend’s American Heart Association meeting in Chicago and simultaneously published in Circulation, lead investigator Dr. Milind Desai of the Cleveland Clinic announced that after 32 weeks of mavacamten treatment, patients continued to see positive cardiac remodeling, as well as improvement to left ventricular outflow tract gradient, diastolic function and quality of life. This ultimately allowed a whopping 88% of patients enrolled in the trial to avoid a septal reduction procedure.
Similar results were noted in those patients who began mavacamten after an initial 16 weeks on a placebo.
This is good news for HCM patients!
FDA Approves Mavacamten under Brand Name Camzyos
At long last, there is a FDA approved drug specifically intended for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. After several years of testing, and based on the results of the groundbreaking EXPLORER-HCM trial, Bristol Myers Squibb’s new drug mavacamten, being marketed under the brand name Camzyos, is now available to HCM patients.
Continue reading “FDA Approves Mavacamten under Brand Name Camzyos”
More on Aficamten & Mavacamten from ACC 2022
In addition to the presentation of the results of the VALOR-HCM study which compared mavacamten to septal reduction techniques, covered here in its own HCMBeat blog entry, ACC 2022 featured two other presentations about the new class of drugs known as myosin inhibitors, such as Bristol Myers Squibb’s mavacamten and Cytokinetics’ aficamten.
Continue reading “More on Aficamten & Mavacamten from ACC 2022”
VALOR-HCM Trial – Mavacamten vs. Septal Reduction Therapy – RESULTS ARE IN!
The Phase 3 VALOR-HCM trial results were presented this morning at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Washington, DC by the principal investigator, Dr. Milind Desai of the Cleveland Clinic, and the results are good!
What was the VALOR-HCM study?
15 – 20 million people worldwide are estimated to have HCM, with 2/3 of this group having the obstructive form which can cause severe symptoms. Historically, these patients have been treated with medications approved for other conditions, and if those don’t relieve symptoms, they are referred on for septal reduction therapies (SRT) like alcohol septal ablation (a catheter based procedure) or septal myectomy (open heart surgery), which are invasive therapies requiring specialized care and which are not widely available.
The VALOR study was designed to compare mavacamten head to head with SRT to see if mavacamten could be a non-invasive treatment alternative for obstructive HCM.
Continue reading “VALOR-HCM Trial – Mavacamten vs. Septal Reduction Therapy – RESULTS ARE IN!”
FDA Approval of Mavacamten Delayed
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has postponed the date by which it must complete its review of mavacamten – the first drug made specifically to treat HCM. The FDA was originally scheduled to announce its decision in late January 2022, but that date has now been postponed until April 28, 2022, which is the new “PDUFA date” or the date by which the FDA must respond to the new drug application.
The FDA has not asked Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to submit any additional data, but it wants to spend more time reviewing the proposed Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy or REMS which is the safety profile of the drug. The FDA can require REMS for certain drugs with safety concerns to ensure that the benefits of the medication will outweigh any risks.
BMS acquired the drug mavacamten, a first in class myosin inhibitor, through its $13.1 billion acquisition of San Francisco biotech company MyoKardia late last year.
You can read more about mavacamten and its journey in these past entries from HCMBeat:
2 Companies Testing Drugs for HCM
HCM Clinical Trials – the Latest News
HCM Drug Shows Improvement to Heart Structure
More Positive Data on Mavacamten Presented at ACC Meeting
More Positive Results for MyoKardia Drug
MyoKardia Announces Positive Results from EXPLORER Trial
BMS Launches New HCM Awareness Campaign Featuring Utah Jazz Player Jared Butler
Bristol Myers Squibb has launched a new hypertrophic cardiomyopathy awareness campaign and website entitled “Could it be HCM?” The campaign launch is in connection with the expected early 2022 FDA approval for the first-in-class cardiac myosin inhibitor drug mavacamten,
A video made for the campaign features professional basketball player Jared Butler of the Utah Jazz. In the video, Butler shares his surprise and dismay when he learned of his HCM diagnosis. Butler was fortunate that he was cleared to play basketball by his doctors at the Mayo Clinic who continue to follow him closely. He was even featured in People Magazine talking about his HCM. See also this article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
The website described what happens to the heart in HCM, the symptoms of HCM, and provides resources for dealing with a diagnosis of HCM.
Check it out!
HCM News from 2021 AHA Scientific Sessions
This year at the AHA Scientific Sessions several presentations focused on HCM. A couple receiving attention included:
- SPIRIT-HCM, a Cleveland Clinic study which looked at the effectiveness of myectomy in improving symptoms in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This study used patient self-reported questionnaires to measure each patient’s improvement in symptoms and quality of life following surgery. The study showed that myectomy is highly effective in reducing symptoms and in improving quality of life following surgery.
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More data was presented by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) regarding its experimental drug mavacamten for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This data showed a sustained reduction in certain biomarkers of heart stress over a longer period of time. Additionally, BMS provided evidence that mavacamten maintains its effectiveness when taken in tandem with background beta blocker therapy. Read the complete abstract here.
What Should Mavacamten Cost?
On October 22, patients, physicians, and other interested parties will have the opportunity to provide input on the value and cost of mavacamten – the first drug specifically designed to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Last year, Bristol Myers Squibb paid $13.1 billion to acquire MyoKardia, the San Francisco biotech company that developed the drug and brought it through clinical trials.
At a virtual public meeting, The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review or ICER will listen to further testimony in order to evaluate mavacamten’s value and potential benefits. ICER is a non-profit organization that evaluates the cost effectiveness of drugs and medical procedures. Many insurance companies rely on ICER’s findings when deciding how much to pay for a certain treatment or test.
In an Effectiveness Report which was published today, ICER valued the benefit that mavacamten would bring to a patient at between $12,000 to $15,000 a year. By contrast, some analysts have suggested that mavacamten could carry a price tag as high as $75,000 per patient per year.
If you would like to share your thoughts at the online public meeting click here to sign up.
You can find a press release from ICER about their review of mavacamten here.
Mavacamten: A Plain Language Summary of EXPLORER – HCM
I was recently asked by the good people at MyoKardia, now a subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb, if I would author a plain language summary of an article to be published in the journal Future Cardiology. This article summarizes the results of the EXPLORER-HCM trial, which showed that mavacamten, a new type of drug known as a “myosin modulator,” was successful in reducing HCM symptoms in subset of patients who took the drug during the clinical trial.
I was so fortunate to have Dr. Anjali Owens of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Inherited Cardiac Disease join me as co-author on the article. I also want to thank the teams at Bristol Myers Squibb and Cello Health Communications/SciFluent who supported us on this project. And, I so grateful to the former MyoKardia team and the other members of the EXPLORER-HCM Steering Committee who gave me the opportunity to witness a groundbreaking clinical trial from the front row.
This is the article. When you access the page, click to view the very informative short video, located in the upper right corner of the page, which explains how the drug works in very brief and concise terms.
Check it out!
Cynthia Burstein Waldman, Founder and Editor, HCMBeat
HCM Beat 